Dear Aspirant,

The greater the resistance to change, the greater the material elasticity and the faster it returns to its original shape or configuration when the deforming force is removed. If this definition is followed, steel will definitely win the race of elasticity.

This confusion is often due to one prominent reason: steel reaches "earlier" plastic deformation and it is intuitive to see that steel is "more prone" to fracture than rubber. This can also be appreciated by simply applying your mind to physics: just place some tension on your mind and start remembering the elasticity formula, you mugged up during the nights of the test. If you can't, I can help you out.

Steel has a high modulus of elasticity, which ensures that it can withstand a large amount of applied stress (force) prior to permanent deformation, i.e. yield. It is said to be "stiff".

Rubber, on the other hand, has a low modulus of elasticity, which means that it can withstand a large applied strain (deformation) before it has a PERMANENT strain. It is said to be "soft or not stiff".

The material may be subject to external influences less than its yield point and may not exhibit permanent deformation— returning to its original shape— so exhibiting "elasticity." Preferably choosing the spectrum of pre-release stress vs strain tends to be quite subjective and beyond the concept of "elasticity." Thus, the property of "elasticity" is not quantifiable to the extent that it compares different materials.

Hope this helps. All the best!

Hello

The ability of an object or material to resume its normal shape after being stretched or compressed; stretchiness.

To quantify elasticity, physics defines elasticity as "resistance to change". The greater the resistance to change, the greater is the elasticity of the material and the faster it comes back to its original shape or configuration when the deforming force is removed.

So if you stretch rubber it will not resume its normal dimensions after the forces are removed. But when steel is stretch it will resume its original dimensions after releasing the forces. Hence steel is more elastic than rubber

Hope it helps