Hooke's Law and Young's Modulus
Can someone please explain this to me. How can one determine if a material behaves according to Hooke's law?
To understand Hooke's law, and Young's modulus, you need to understand stress and strain. Strain is a way of measuring how much a material stretches or gets compressed. Stress is a measure of the applied force (per unit area) that causes the deformation. The ratio of stress to strain is constant for elastic materials. Such materials are said to obey Hooke's law. The ratio is called Young's modulus.
A Google search of these terms will probably help you find a better or easier to understand explanation than mine above. Your textbook should also have a clear definition of these terms.