Final answer:
Stress is the magnitude of forces that cause deformation, while strain describes the resulting deformation. Tension is a type of stress that elongates an object, while pre-strain refers to the initial strain present in a material before applying any additional stress. Prestress is a stress that is intentionally applied to an object or material before any external forces are applied.
Step-by-step explanation:
The five physical terms you've asked about - stress, strain, tension, pre-strain, and prestress are all related to the mechanical properties of cells and their responses to forces. Stress is a force applied over a certain area within a material, which in biological terms can refer to forces that cells experience or exert. Strain describes the extent of deformation that an object experiences as a result of stress. Tension is a type of stress that occurs when forces act to stretch an object. Pre-strain relates to the existent deformation in a cell or tissue before an additional load is applied. Prestress, in the context of biology, typically refers to an initial stress that is deliberately applied to cells or tissues, which can affect their subsequent behavior, such as how they grow, move, or differentiate.
Experiments have shown that cells and tissues exhibit elasticity, responding to stress and strain elastically within seconds or minutes, meaning they return to their original shape after the deforming force is removed. Cellular tension is an important aspect of understanding cell dynamics, particularly when examining cell extensions, contractions at cell junctions, and tissue dynamics. To quantitatively understand the behavior of single cells, such as cell spreading on substrates, it's necessary to consider tension along with elements of elasticity. Cellular contractility and the deformations it causes can sometimes be modeled analogously to thermoelasticity to simulate stress distributions in tissues.