ELASTICITY - A RETURN TO FORM

It was accepted by the thinkers and researchers of old that every body/object suffers some deformation when acted upon by a force. The Vaisesikas understood elasticity (stithisthapaka) as a type of samskara, and the property of dense substances with closely packed molecules. Displacement of these molecules is corrected by the elasticity of that substance which helps it return to its original shape.

Elasticity is also seen as a force in its own right : for example, when a bow is bent for purposes of shooting off an arrow, the very fact of the impelling pull generates an opposing pull which is activated as soon as the impelling pull is withdrawn. Therefore, it

1. reverts the bow to its former shape and
2. initiates a motion. Hooke's Law concentrates on the former aspect of elasticity while the Vaisesikas emphasized the latter.

Modern physics holds that stress (the external force) and strain (the extent of yield of the matter/object) remain proportional so long as the strain is not excessive.

SOURCES :

The Cultural Heritage of India
Editors - Priyadaranjan Ray & S.N. Sen
Publishers - The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture

History of Science & Technology in India
Editors - G. Kuppuram & K. Kumudamami
Publishers - Sundeep Prakashan

Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
Publishers - McGraw-Hill.

Masters of the Millennium - 100 Indians who shaped the century
Publishers - The Sunday Observer (special edition).

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