Difference Between Compression and Tension

Tension and compression are two concepts discussed in physics. Tension is a force while compression is a phenomenon. Both these concepts play important parts in fields such as mechanical systems, automobile engineering, heat engines, material science, pendulums and various other fields. It is vital to have a proper understanding in tension and compression in order to excel in such fields. In this article, we are going to discuss what compression and tension are, their definitions, applications of compression and tension, the similarities between compression and tension and finally, the difference between compression and tension. Tension Tension is defined as the pulling force exerted by a cable, string, chain or a similar object. There are two types of strings. A weightless string is a hypothetical string with no weight. A real string is a string with a finite amount of weight. These two definitions are important in describing the tension. When an object is pulled by a string, th