A metal wire is fastened to a fixed support so that it hangs straight down. Masses are then added to the wire. Assume that the wire’s cross-sectional area stays constant. A stress-strain graph for the wire is drawn, as shown. What does the shaded area beneath the graph represent?
- Astrain energy in the wire
- Bstrain energy in the wire / cross-sectional area of the wire
- Cstrain energy in the wire / original length of the wire
- Dstrain energy in the wire / original volume of the wire