page_title: Damage
section_title: Physical damage
hierarchical_section_title: Damage / Physical damage
caption_attribution_description: English: Demolished vehicles line Highway 80, also known as the "Highway of Death", the route fleeing Iraqi forces took as they retreated fom Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. The tank visible in the center of the picture is either a Type 59 or a Type 69 as evidenced by the dome-shaped ventilator on the top of the turret and the headlamps on the right fender.
context_page_description: Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance". Damage "does not necessarily imply total loss of system functionality, but rather that the system is no longer operating in its optimal manner". Damage to physical objects is "the progressive physical process by which they break", and includes mechanical stress that weakens a structure, even if this is not visible.
context_section_description: All physical damage begins on the atomic level, with the shifting or breaking of atomic bonds, and the rate at which damage to any physical thing occurs is therefore largely dependent on the elasticity of such bonds in the material being subjected to stress. Damage can occur where atomic bonds are not completely broken, but are shifted to create unstable pockets of concentration and diffusion of the material, which are more susceptible to later breakage. The effect of outside forces on a material depends on the relative elasticity or plasticity of the material; if a material tends towards elasticity, then changes to its consistency are reversible, and it can bounce back from potential damage. However, if the material tends towards plasticity, then such changes are permanent, and each such change increases the possibility of a crack or fault appearing in the material.
  Although all damage at the atomic level manifests as broken atomic bonds, the manifestation of damage at the macroscopic level depends on the material, and can include cracks and deformation, as well as structural weakening that is not visible.
caption: Damage caused by military action in the Gulf War.
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