ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Thermal stress

Okay, imagine you're in a bathtub with really hot water. At first, you feel nice and cozy, but if you stay in there for too long, your body starts to feel stressed out from the heat. That's kind of like what thermal stress is.

When things get really hot, like if you're in the sun or standing next to a fire, they start to expand, or get bigger. But sometimes, different parts of the same thing expand at different rates, and that can put stress on the material.

For example, imagine a metal cup sitting on a hot stovetop. The part of the cup touching the stove is going to get really hot and expand, but the handle will stay cooler and not expand as much. This can cause the metal to bend or even crack, which is not good because then you can't use the cup anymore.

So thermal stress is when something gets too hot and the different parts of it start to expand at different rates, causing it to bend, crack, or break. That's why it's important to be careful with hot things and not expose them to extreme heat for too long.