Elasticity

That property of matter in virtue of which a body requires force to change its bulk or shape, and requires a continued application of the force to maintain the change. "The elasticity is said to be perfect when the body always requires the same force to keep it at rest in the same bulk and shape and at the same temperature through whatever variation of bulk, shape, and temperature it be brought." "The degree of distortion within which elasticity of shape is found is e entially limited in every solid." It is said then to be elastic within certain limits, called the "limits of elasticity." Liquids are almost if not quite perfectly elastic; gases are perfectly elastic.