belastning

Belastning is a Swedish noun meaning load, burden, or strain. It derives from the verb belast(a) meaning to load, and is used in several fields to denote something that is carried, applied, or demanded. In physics and engineering, belastning refers to external forces acting on a structure or component, such as dead loads, live loads, snow, wind, or dynamic loads. The term is central to calculating stress, deformation, and safety factors, and it is specified in load cases according to design standards.

In electrical engineering and computing, belastning can describe the electrical load or system load—the amount of power or processing demand placed on a circuit, device, or software system. In physiology and medicine, it denotes the workload on the body or heart, for example during exercise, and can refer to the level of stress or strain on organs or tissues.

In everyday use, belastning is used to talk about burdens or responsibilities carried by individuals or groups, such as financial, emotional, or social strain. The word can combine with qualifiers to express intensity, such as lätt belastning or hög belastning.

Compared with related terms, belastning emphasizes the demand or load placed on something, whereas stress or strain are related concepts that describe the internal response to that load. See also load, burden, stress, strain, capacity.