CHENNAI PUBLIC SCHOOL

INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT
PHYSICS
2018 -19

BREAKING STRESS OF
PAPER
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that CH TARAKEESH student of

Class XII-D, Chennai Public School, Anna Nagar, has
completed the project titled “BREAKING STRESS OF PAPER”
during the academic year 2018-19 towards partial fulfillment of
credit for the AISSCE Practical Evaluation, under my
supervision.

_______________ _______________
Mr S.ULAGANNAL External Examiner
Physics Teacher

_______________________
Mrs. Asha Nathan
Principal School Seal
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We have put our sincere efforts to complete

this interesting investigatory project. We would
like to thank and show our gratitude to our
physics teacher who helped us to understand
these interesting concepts and use them
practically. We would also like to thank our
school for providing us with a laboratory with
all facilities in doing this project and also the
lab technicians who were very helpful.

Our classmates who were very supportive and

encouraging to us provided a moral boost for
the completion of this project. We are very
proud to see that the immense effort and time
spent on the project has been fruitful and has
turned out to be a successful one.
 INDEX
*ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
*AIM
*INTRODUCTION
*MATERIALS REQUIRED
*THEORY
*APPARATUS
*PROCEDURE
*OBSERVATION TABLE
*CALCULATION
*PRECAUTION
*SOURCES OF ERROR
*RESULT
*BIBLIOGRAPHY
 AIM
To perform an investigative experiment to
determine the breaking stress of different
types of paper. This investigative project
provides a way to test different types of paper.
Manufacturers of paper have to meet strict
requirements for the strength, thickness,
weight, smoothness, and appearance of their
product. They have to do this in order to
consistently meet the needs of their customers
and get repeat business. The test described in
this activity is modified a modified/simplified
version of the most common strength test,
“tensile strength.” In addition to providing a
way to test paper sheets made by the
students, the activity also can help develop
skills in calculating with units, looking for root
causes, and learning some concepts about
why paper is recyclable.
MATERIALS REQUIRED
PAPER SAMPLES LIKE
BUTTER PAPER
FILTER
PAPER

NEWSPAPER CELLOPHANE PAPER

MAGAZINE PAPER ALUMINIUM PAPER(FOIL)

A4 PAPER CHART PAPER

CRAFT PAPER
LIGHT PLASTIC BUCKET WITH HANDLE

WEIGHTS OF 50gm

SCISSORS
RULER

TWO STANDS

THREAD
 INTRODUCTION
Tensile strength, the maximum tensile force
developed in a test specimen before rupture on
a tensile test carried to rupture under
prescribed conditions. Tensile strength (as
used here) is the force per unit width of test
specimen.
A property of paper that indicates its ability to
withstand a stretching force without breaking.
The paper's maximum elongation due to
tensile stress is expressed as a percentage of
its original length. Paper has greater tensile
strength in its grain direction. Although tensile
breaking strength has little application to
sheetfed printing processes, it is an important
consideration in wrapping papers, packaging
papers, business forms, web offset
lithographic processes and other uses in which
paper is subjected to high degrees of
stretching. Tensile breaking strength is
increased with increased fiber refining and
fiber length, wet-pressing, and basis weight,
and decreased with increasing addition
of fillers to the papermaking furnish.

THEORY
YOUNG’S MODULUS
Young's modulus is a measure of the ability of
a material to withstand changes in length
when under lengthwise tension or
compression. Sometimes referred to as
the modulus of elasticity, Young's modulus is
equal to the longitudinal stress divided by the
strain.
Young's modulus is the ratio of stress, which
has units of pressure, to strain, which is
dimensionless; therefore Young's
modulus itself has units of pressure.
Young's modulus measures the resistance of a
material to elastic (recoverable) deformation
under load. A stiff material has a high Young's
modulus and changes its shape only slightly
under elastic loads (e.g. diamond). A flexible
material has a low Young's modulus and
changes its shape considerably (e.g. rubbers).

WHAT IS STRESS &

STRAIN?
The stress applied to a material is the force
per unit area applied to the material. The
maximum stress a material can stand before it
breaks is called the breaking stress or ultimate
tensile stress. Tensile means the material is
under tension.
Strain is the response of a system to an
applied stress. When a material is loaded with
a force, it produces a stress, which then
causes a material to deform.
Engineering strain is defined as the amount of
deformation in the direction of the applied
force divided by the initial length of the
material.
The SI unit of stress is the newton per
square meter, which is called the pascal. Now
consider a force that is applied tangentially to
an object. The ratio of the shearing force to
the area A is called the shear stress.

HOOKE’S LAW
Hooke's law states that the force needed to
extend or compress a spring by some distance
x scales linearly with respect to that distance.
That is, where k is a constant factor
characteristic of the spring: its stiffness, and x
is small compared to the total possible
deformation of the spring
USES OF YOUNG’S
MODULUS
The Young's modulus enables the calculation
of the change in the dimension of a bar made
of an isotropic elastic material under tensile or
compressive loads. For instance, it predicts
how much a material sample extends under
tension or shortens under compression. The
Young's modulus directly applies to cases of
uniaxial stress, that is tensile or compressive
stress in one direction and no stress in the
other directions. Young's modulus is also used
in order to predict the deflection that will
occur in a statically determinate beam when a
load is applied at a point in between the
beam's supports. Other elastic calculations
usually require the use of one additional
elastic property, such as the shear
modulus, bulk modulus or Poisson's ratio. Any
two of these parameters are sufficient to fully
describe elasticity in an isotropic material.
Young's modulus represents the factor of
proportionality in Hooke's law, which relates
the stress and the strain. However, Hooke's
law is only valid under the assumption of
an elastic and linear response. Any real
material will eventually fail and break when
stretched over a very large distance or with a
very large force; however all solid materials
exhibit nearly Hookean behavior for small
enough strains or stresses. If the range over
which Hooke's law is valid is large enough
compared to the typical stress that one
expects to apply to the material, the material
is said to be linear. Otherwise (if the typical
stress one would apply is outside the linear
range) the material is said to be non-linear.
Steel, carbon fiber and glass among others are
usually considered linear materials, while
other materials such as rubber and soils are
non-linear. However, this is not an absolute
classification: if very small stresses or strains
are applied to a non-linear material, the
response will be linear, but if very high stress
or strain is applied to a linear material, the
linear theory will not be enough. For example,
as the linear theory implies reversibility, it
would be absurd to use the linear theory to
describe the failure of a steel bridge under a
high load; although steel is a linear material for
most applications, it is not in such a case of
catastrophic failure.
In solid mechanics, the slope of the stress–
strain curve at any point is called the tangent
modulus. It can be experimentally determined
from the slope of a stress–strain curve created
during tensile tests conducted on a sample of
the material.
Young's modulus is not always the same in all
orientations of a material. Most metals and
ceramics, along with many other materials,
are isotropic, and their mechanical properties
are the same in all orientations. However,
metals and ceramics can be treated with
certain impurities, and metals can be
mechanically worked to make their grain
structures directional. These materials then
become anisotropic, and Young's modulus will
change depending on the direction of the force
vector. Anisotropy can be seen in many
composites as well. For example, carbon
fiber has a much higher Young's modulus (is
much stiffer) when force is loaded parallel to
the fibers (along the grain). Other such
materials include wood and reinforced
concrete. Engineers can use this directional
phenomenon to their advantage in creating
structures.
STRESS STRAIN
GRAPH

YOUNG’S MODULUS
GRAPH FOR
DIFFERENT TYPES OF
MATERIALS
PROCEDURE
The following page shows illustrations for the
experimental set-up to measure the strength of
the paper. Also, a calculation sheet is attached
to organize data collection and analysis.
1. Weigh the different types of sample papers
and record in the calculation sheet.
2.Use 50gm weights and tie it to a thread to.
3. Measure the area of the paper that you want
to test using a ruler. Convert the area into m2
and record on the calculation sheet. Measure
the corresponding weight of the paper using a
balance. Calculate the basis weight in N .
4. Carefully cut a strip of paper so that it is 2
cm wide. The length should be 15cm,
depending on the dimensions of your initial
sheet of paper. Do not wrinkle or tear the strip.
When cutting try to make the edges as smooth
as possible.
5. Using a 10 cm length of thread, thread at
least a 3 cm of length of the strip to the table
edge so that the strip hangs vertically.
6. Using about a 2 stands, attach the bucket to
the bottom of the paper strip. The stand should
loop around the bucket handle and then
sandwich the bottom part of the paper strip.
 Again make sure the stand is at least fixed
properly to the bottom of the paper strip.
7. Add weights to the bucket until the paper
snaps. Make sure that the paper has not
slipped out from the tape, if it has, the
experiment is not useful. Count the number of
weights to break the paper and record. (This
first test may be used as a scoping experiment
in order to find out approximately the number
of weights needed.)
8. Repeat steps for all paper samples more and
take an average of the results.
9. Use the calculation sheet to determine the
breaking stress.
10. Write the answer in terms of N/m2

S.No PAPER SAMPLE WEIGHT AT WHICH THE

PAPER SNAPPED

1 craft paper 300g

2 cellophane paper 200g

3 magazine paper 100g

4 chart paper 250 g

5 butter paper 200g

6 filter paper 300g

7 newspaper 200g

8 Aluminium foil 200g

9 A4 sheet 250 g

OBSERVATION TABLE
CALCULATION
Avg mass= 200g
Length of paper =15cm
Breadth of paper=2cm
Mass of each weight = 50 g
Weight of paper=0.15 g
Area of paper= 30 cm2
Acceleration due to gravity = 10m/s2
BREAKING STRESS= FORCE/ AREA
MG/A
= 200x10x10-3
30x10-4
= 666.6 N/m2
APPARATUS DIAGRAM
threaad
d Table thread Table
Edge Edge

Paper
Strip

STAND
SD
Bucket
Handle

Bucket

PRECAUTIONS
*Take multiple readings to avoid error
*Standard weights must be used
*The threads should be inextensible
*The error in calculation of material
dimensions must be minimal for best results

SOURCES OF ERROR
*The paper sample may not ne uniform
*The paper sample may not be properly fixed
*The paper sample should be of small length to
avoid its own weight contributing to the force
*The stand may not be rigid

RESULT
THEREFORE THE AVERAGE BREAKING
STRESS OF GIVEN PAPER SAMPLES IS 666.6
N/m2

BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.s-cool.co.uk
www.mtu.edu
www.qualitymag.com
en.wikipedia.org
www.google.co.in
https://cnr.ncsu.edu/fb/wp-content
Class 11 Physics textbook
SL ARORA Class 11
HC VERMA VOLUME-1