Terzaghi's principle

Have you ever played with Play-Doh before? Imagine you have a big piece of Play-Doh and you push your finger into it. The Play-Doh will squish and move out of the way of your finger. This is kind of like how the ground moves and squishes when we put pressure on it.

Now, let's say you keep pushing your finger into the Play-Doh. Eventually, the Play-Doh will get so squished that it won't move anymore, and your finger won't be able to go any further. This is kind of like how the ground can't move anymore when we put too much pressure on it.

Terzaghi's principle is a fancy way of saying that when we put pressure on the ground, it will move and squish until it gets so squished that it can't move anymore. This is important because it helps engineers and scientists understand how buildings and other structures will interact with the ground they are built on. It helps them make sure that the ground won't squish too much and cause the building to fall down or become unstable.