Editing Shock (mechanics) (section)

== Effects of shock ==
Mechanical shock has the potential for damaging an item (e.g., an entire [[light bulb]]) or an element of the item (e.g. a filament in an [[Incandescent light bulb]]):
* A [[brittle]] or fragile item can fracture. For example, two crystal wine glasses may shatter when impacted against each other. A [[shear pin]] in an engine is designed to fracture with a specific magnitude of shock.  Note that a soft [[ductile]] material may sometimes exhibit brittle failure during shock due to [[time-temperature superposition]].
* A [[malleable]] item can be bent by a shock. For example, a copper pitcher may bend when dropped on the floor.
* Some items may appear to be not damaged by a single shock but will experience [[Fatigue (material)|fatigue]] failure with numerous repeated low-level shocks.
* A shock may result in only minor damage which may not be critical for use. However, cumulative minor damage from several shocks will eventually result in the item being unusable.
* A shock may not produce immediate apparent damage but might cause the service life of the product to be shortened: the [[Reliability engineering|reliability]] is reduced.
* A shock may cause an item to become out of adjustment. For example, when a precision scientific instrument is subjected to a moderate shock, good [[metrology]] practice may be to have it re[[calibrate]]d before further use.
* Some materials such as primary high [[explosive]]s may [[detonate]] with mechanical shock or impact.
* When [[glass bottles]] of liquid are dropped or subjected to shock, the [[water hammer]] effect may cause [[hydrodynamic]] glass breakage.<ref>{{cite journal
  | last = Saitoh
  | first = S
| title = Water hammer breakage of a glass container
  | journal = International Glass Journal
  | publisher = Faenza Editrice
  | year = 1999
  | issn = 1123-5063
  }}
</ref>