We are going to consider the forces exerted on a material. These can be external or internal. External forces come in two flavors: body forces(given per unit mass or volume) and surface forces(given per unit area). If we cut a body of material in equilibrium under a set of external forces along a plane as shown in fig. 1. and consider one side of it we draw two conclusions: 1 the equilibrium provided by the loads from the side taken out is provided by a set of forces that are distributed among the material particles adjacent to