Example: An exercise bike that can support 250 lb. Does the engineer find a large enough weight that deforms the bike, then take a fraction of that as the amount it can support?
In: Engineering
Say you have to design a makeshift bridge over a gap with just a plank of wood (think of a pirate gangplank)
If the plank (bridge) has to support 250 lb you could analyze the structure and use maths to determine how thick the plank has to be in order to support the pressure of a 250 lb weight before permanently deforming (snapping in this case I guess).
And then you factor in a safety factor and pick a plank that’s thicker and will theoretically deform at that new bigger pressure.
Im honestly not sure what that means for the ‘technical’ weight the bike for example can support or how it’s marketed or labelled.
If you turned the question around and came upon a plank bridge already existing and had to calculate if it’s safe to cross or how much it could support and you’d come to the conclusion it can support 250 lb before deforming it would just be that :p
I dont know if that makes any sense, I struggled a lot trying to find the words to explain what I mean in that last paragraph but I hope you managed.
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