Final answer:
The ultimate strength of a material is the maximum stress it can withstand before failing, such as 2.2 × 108 Pascals for aluminum and up to 20.0 × 108 Pascals for steel.
Step-by-step explanation:
The ultimate strength of a material, also known as the breaking stress or ultimate stress, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand before failure. When comparing different materials, such as steel and aluminum, they can exhibit vastly different ultimate strengths. For example, aluminum can have an ultimate stress of 2.2 × 108 Pascals (Pa), while steel may have an ultimate stress up to 20.0 × 108 Pa, which reflects their capacity to withstand different loads before fracturing. If we consider rods with a 1-inch2 cross-sectional area, using Equation 12.34, we can estimate that aluminum can handle a breaking load of 3.2 × 104 pounds (lbs), and steel, being stronger, can support approximately nine times this load before breaking.