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What Is Poisson’s Ratio?

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Poisson’s Ratio:

When an object is elongated longitudinally in the direction of the tensile force, then there will be a lateral contraction. this means that the contraction is in a direction perpendicular to the direction of tensile force. The ratio of lateral strain to longitudinal strain within the elastic limit is called Poisson’s Ratio (\sigma) .

Let us consider a wire of length L and diameter D , undergoes an eleongation l along the direction of applied tensile force F , and also undergoes a contraction of amount d along the direction perpendiculer to the direction of tensile force F . Then Poisson’s Ratio wil be

σ=Lateral StrainLongitudinal Strain=d/Dl/L=dLlD\sigma=\frac{Lateral\ Strain}{Longitudinal\ Strain} \\=\frac{d/D}{l/L} \\=\frac{d\cdot{L}}{l\cdot{D}}

Is Poisson’s Ratio an Elastic Modulus?

Poisson’s ratio is not an elastic modulus as it is the ratio of two types of strains, not the ratio of stress to strain. It is a dimensionless pure number.

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