A new way to see stress—using supercomputers

It's easy to take a lot for granted. Scientists do this when they study stress, the force per unit area on an object. Scientists handle stress mathematically by assuming it to have symmetry. That means the components of stress are identical if you transform the stressed object with something like a turn or a flip. Supercomputer simulations show that at the atomic level, material stress doesn't behave symmetrically. The findings could help scientists design new materials such as glass or metal that doesn't ice up.

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