A column overload occurs when a load is too heavy causing it to flatten or compress. Which option expresses this idea?

• A. A column is loaded beyond its capacity causing it to flatten or compress.
• B. A column is too thin.
• C. A column is too long.
• D. A column carries no load.

Answer: (A)

Overload means applying more load to the column than it can safely carry, causing it to deform under compression. The statement that describes this idea most directly is the one that says the column is loaded beyond its capacity causing it to flatten or compress. This captures both the concept of exceeding the design strength and the resulting deformation.

The other scenarios point to geometric factors—being too thin or too long—that affect stability and how a column might fail (often by buckling under a given load) but do not express the idea of the load surpassing the column’s capacity. No load simply means there’s no induced compression to begin with, which isn’t about overload.