Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
For a strut under thrust when buckling is resisted by a force proportional to the displacement, it is shown that for both a clamped and a pinned strut there is stability for any length when the thrust is less than a certain critical value; and the relation is found between the length and the first value of the thrust above this that will give buckling. A notion of the wave-length and number of nodes after buckling is obtained.
The results are applied to the theory of the formation of mountains by horizontal compression, and it is shown that the crust of the earth would be able to transmit, without buckling, stresses right up to the breaking stress across regions of continental extent, unless the depth down to the level of no strain were less than 16 metres.
An attempt is made to employ the results also to consider the stability of solid surface films under compression, and it is seen that other factors, making for stability, must enter besides rigidity and gravity. This is supplied by surface tension, and it then appears that collapse due to a weakness in the film must precede buckling.
A rough calculation is given of the frequency of vibration of an atom in a solid film.
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