A force applied to a structure or component that it must support is called what?

• A. Weight
• B. Force
• C. Stress
• D. Load

Answer: (D)

The idea being tested is that the external force a structure must support is called a load. A load encompasses everything acting on a structure from the outside that it must carry or resist, such as the weight of the structure itself (dead load), people and furniture (live load), and environmental forces like wind or snow. Weight is a specific kind of load caused by gravity, but the term load is the broader, more direct description for any external force a structure has to withstand. Force is a general term for any push or pull, not necessarily the particular external influence on a structure, and stress is the internal distribution of those forces within the material as it resists them.