The "unstretched length" is shorter than the actual unloaded length because the load applied to the material caused the extension of the material thereby increasing its length.
Hooke's law states that the force applied to an elastic material is directly proportional to the extension of the elastic material.
F = kx
where;
Thus, we can conclude that, the "unstretched length" is shorter than the actual unloaded length because the load applied to the material caused extension of the material thereby increasing the length of the material.
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