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shear stress
physics
- Related Topics:
- stress
- wind stress
shear stress, force tending to cause deformation of a material by slippage along a plane or planes parallel to the imposed stress. The resultant shear is of great importance in nature, being intimately related to the downslope movement of earth materials and to earthquakes. Shear stress may occur in solids or liquids; in the latter it is related to fluid viscosity.