Introduction to Earth Sciences I
1.3.3. The Earth Bends When A Weight Is Placed On It
We can learn a lot about the strength of materials by the way they bend. Our instinct is always to try to distort an object to get a sense of how strong - resistant to forces - it is. When we squeeze melons at the fruit stand to make sure they are not over ripe we are measuring their strength, knowing that they get soft if they are too ripe.
We cannot really do that for the Earth other than in samples of rocks from near the surface from which we learn that most crustal rocks are indeed very strong. We build buildings out of rocks. Fortunately the Earth has performed some bending experiments for us that can be used for this purpose.