Which risk increases when a wooden sailing ship's hull undergoes cyclical wetting and drying?

💡 Explanation

Material embrittlement accelerates structural failure because repeated moisture changes induce hygrothermal stress. This process degrades the wood's cellular structure, therefore weakening the hull's integrity, rather than causing immediate brittle fracture.

• Which precision improvement results when al-Battani increased observational baseline?
• Which mechanism limits long-term Mughal pietra dura durability?
• Which consequence increased stress concentration points in early iron ships?
• During Mughal garden construction, which outcome resulted upon using lime mortar within underground water channels?
• Which property degradation occurred in Song Dynasty cast iron agricultural implements when silica content exceeded optimal rates within bloomery furnaces?
• Which risk dramatically increased in 18th-century wooden ship hulls when oakum caulking was improperly applied during construction?