Material Strength Game

About Strength

Strength shows two materials with the question 'Which is stronger when pulled?'. You choose the one that can carry the larger pulling force before it breaks, assuming both are shaped into a rod or thread of the same thickness. The pool has thirteen materials, from concrete to Kevlar fiber.

The ranking holds some surprises. Many people know that steel is strong, but few know that a thin spider silk thread can compete with it, or that an ordinary piano wire is several times stronger than structural steel. Bone, pine wood and nylon all have their own place in the ranking, and the game lets you discover it round by round.

How to play

1. Read the two materials. Think of a rod of each, with the same thickness, held at both ends.
2. Think about which one would break last if you hung weights from it.
3. Tap your choice, or press 1 or 2 on a keyboard.
4. After the answer the game shows the typical tensile strengths of both materials in megapascals.

Two materials of the same thickness are pulled until they break. Tap the one that holds more force.

How scoring works

A right answer is worth 100 points and a wrong answer 0. The pair is drawn from the thirteen materials so that their strengths are at least 6 times apart on level 1, down to 1.4 times on level 10. The timer runs from 11 seconds down to 8 seconds.

The values come from typical figures for tensile strength, the stress at which a material breaks when pulled, in megapascals. They range from about 3 for concrete to 3,000 for Kevlar fiber. Real values vary with the exact alloy, heat treatment, moisture and grain direction, which is why the pairs are always chosen with a safe gap between them.

What it trains

This game builds a feeling for the strength of everyday materials, which is useful in building, repairing, climbing, cooking and design. Knowing roughly how materials compare keeps you from trusting a cheap rope or a thin plastic hook with too much.

It also teaches that strength has many forms. Concrete is strong in compression and weak in tension, which is why it is cast around steel rods. The game only asks about pulling, so you get to see the other side of the story.

Tips for a higher score

• Sort the materials in layers. Concrete, rubber and plastics are the weakest. Wood, nylon and bone sit in the middle. Metals come next, and special fibers like Kevlar and piano wire top the list.
• Remember that thin, drawn materials are strong. Pulling a metal or fiber into a wire aligns its structure and makes it stronger than a block of the same material.
• Do not be fooled by weight. Heavy does not mean strong: concrete is heavy and weak in tension, spider silk is feather light and very strong.
• Compare to steel as your yardstick. Anything labeled titanium, silk, piano wire or Kevlar usually beats structural steel; copper, aluminum and wood usually do not.
• Learn from the numbers in the feedback; after ten rounds you will know most of the list.

The idea behind it

Tensile strength is the maximum pulling stress a material can bear before it fractures. It is measured by clamping a sample in a testing machine and pulling until it breaks. Stress is force per cross-sectional area, which is why the game compares materials of equal thickness.

Natural spider silk is known for its combination of strength and toughness, and published values for some silks reach about a gigapascal, comparable to high-grade steel. Aramid fibers such as Kevlar, developed at DuPont in the 1960s, reach about three gigapascals in fiber form. All figures in the game are typical, rounded values.

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Free, no account. Your best scores are saved on your device.