Steel has excellent resistance to which three forces?

• A. Compression
• B. Compression, Tension, and Shear
• C. Tension
• D. Bending

Answer: (B)

The main concept here is understanding how a material performs under the principal stresses it may encounter: tension (pulling apart), compression (pushing together), and shear (layers sliding past one another). Steel is well known for its strength in all three of these modes: it has high tensile strength, solid compressive capacity, and strong shear resistance due to its ductile, interconnected grain structure. Because it resists all three kinds of internal stress effectively, the option that lists compression, tension, and shear best captures steel’s versatile performance in structural applications. The other choices focus on just one force or introduce bending, which is a response to moments and depends on geometry and loading, not a standalone material property.