A TENSION FORCE (T) is a force that will ELONGATE a member, resulting in tensile stresses that lead to necking failure in our ENGINEERING ANALYSIS. . A tension force is one that pulls a member apart, graphically represented as: . On the other hand, a COMPRESSIVE FORCE (C) is a force that will COMPRESS a member resulting in compressive stresses that may lead to a buckling failure in our ENGINEERING ANALYSIS. . A COMPRESSIVE FORCE is one that SQUEEZES a member TOGETHER, graphically represented as: . TENSION exists in any body that is pulled on by opposing forces. . These TENSION Forces can be found in ropes and cables are always in an axial direction, along the LINE OF ACTION of the ROPE or CABLE, and are ALWAYS in TENSION. . Cables can only be loaded in tension, as they will collapse in compression. . . . . . . #feexam #statics #forces #compression #tension #vectormechanics #freebodydiagrams #engineer #engineering #engineerlife #civilengineeringstudent #mechanicalengineering #civilengineering #trusses #members #forceanalysis #eitexam #eit #eitin2017 #prepineer (at New Physics Building)