Stretching a Brass Wire

GrandLuxor

1. The Problem...

A brass wire is to withstand a tensile force of 350 N without breaking. What minimum diameter must the wire have?

Given Quantity: Young's modulus for brass = 9.0 * 10^10

2. What I Thought I Needed to Solve It...

Young's modulus = Tensile strength/Tensile strain

Stress = Force/cross section area

Strain = distance stretched/initial length

3. I only know 2 of the 5 variables; how much force will be applied and Young's modulus. I'm not sure where to go without knowing the stretch or length of the wire.

GrandLuxor

Is it even solvable? Or is there something painfully obvious that I'm missing?

Mapes

Young's modulus is a measure of stiffness: how difficult it is to achieve elastic, reversible deformation. You need to look up the strength of brass: the ultimate tensile strength that it can withstand without breaking.

PhanthomJay

You only need to know the ultimate breaking tensile stress of brass using the original area; were you given a graph?
EDIT: oohh, way too late with this response.

GrandLuxor

I wasn't provided a graph, or a figure for the tensile strength of Brass. If I was to use tensile strength rather than Young's modulus, would the same equation apply?