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AS 9702 · 6.1 · Deformation of solids · Lesson bundle

Stress, strain and the Young modulus

An AS lesson that separates stiffness from strength, made lesson-ready: define stress and strain, read a stress-strain graph, and find the Young modulus as the gradient of its straight region, the same for every sample of the material. Plan, worksheet with answers, slides, and a Numbered Heads Together activity with a full facilitation guide, built around the wire experiment and the site simulation Stretching a Wire.

Syllabus
9702, 6.1
Level
AS
Duration
60 minutes
Activity
Numbered Heads Together
Core visual
Gradient of the stress-strain graph
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Every part, two ways

Each part of the bundle opens right here on the site, projectable in any browser, and downloads as an editable file, never a locked PDF. Adapt them to your set, your timing and your school's calendar.

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Lesson plan

The 60-minute plan, with the stress-strain graph, the worked steel-wire example, the wire experiment, examiner traps and differentiation.

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Worksheet and answers

Original AS questions across recall, calculations, a stress-strain graph, the wire experiment and a strain-energy challenge, with a full worked answer key.

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Slides

Your actual slides, presented right in the browser, with the live simulation linked beneath; the download is fully editable.

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21st century skills activity

Numbered Heads Together on a six-problem team set, with the PIES rationale, a facilitation guide and a full teacher answer key, so it runs faithfully.

The matching topic page and simulation

Send learners to the lesson online

This bundle pairs with the student topic page Stress, strain and the Young modulus, which carries the interactive explanation, and with the site simulation Stretching a Wire, which loads a wire and traces out the stress-strain line so learners can see the gradient that is the Young modulus.

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How it is built

Stiffness, not strength

The lesson holds one distinction firm: the Young modulus measures stiffness, not strength, and it belongs to the material, not to the wire. A force-extension graph changes with the length and thickness of the specimen; the stress-strain graph does not, and its straight-region gradient is the Young modulus for every sample of that metal.

Numbered Heads Together makes learners argue out the calculations and the stiffness-versus-strength point, with random call after the discussion keeping every learner accountable for the method and the units. The activity ships with a full facilitation guide and a teacher answer key, so it can be run faithfully.

Original work by the TheLucidSTEM team. Questions are written in the style of the papers; no past paper question is reproduced. Supplied in editable formats so you can adapt them freely.
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