What do the terms "bending strength" and "shear strength" in wood refer to?

The terms "bending strength" and "shear strength" are essential mechanical properties of wood that help understand how it behaves under different types of loads. Bending strength is defined as the maximum stress that a wood specimen can withstand while being deformed in a bending scenario, which generally involves forces acting perpendicular to its grain. This property determines how much weight or load wood can support before failing due to bending.

Shear strength, on the other hand, refers to the wood's ability to resist sliding forces that are typically parallel to the grain. It measures how well wood can withstand forces that attempt to cause layers of wood to slide against each other. Understanding these two properties is crucial for engineers and builders when selecting wood materials for structures and ensuring that they meet safety and performance standards.

The other options do not accurately represent these definitions. The first option confuses bending strength with compressive strength, while the third option suggests separate functions that are not part of the standard definitions. The fourth option incorrectly claims that these terms can be used interchangeably, which is not the case as they refer to different types of stress responses in wood.