Strain engineering

Strain engineering is like playing with Play-Doh. You know how when you squish and twist Play-Doh, it changes its shape and can become a little longer or thinner? Well, scientists do something similar with really tiny things called materials, which are like tiny building blocks.

They use different tools to apply stress or pressure to these tiny building blocks, changing their size or shape just like Play-Doh. This is known as strain engineering. But instead of making fun shapes with Play-Doh, scientists use strain engineering to create new materials with special properties, like being stronger or lighter.

It's kind of like how you can make a ball of Play-Doh heavier by making it denser or lighter by making it less dense. With strain engineering, scientists can change how tightly packed the atoms are inside a material which can change how it behaves when hit, stretched, or heated up.

Overall, strain engineering lets scientists create new and useful materials with unique properties by altering their shape and size on a tiny scale, kind of like when they play with Play-Doh.