# hard (difficulty)

a state of a substance that does not change when work is done

- Computed level: L13 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: hard.difficulty  ·  Arena: lexicon

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [substance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-substance.material), [work](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-work.effort), [state](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-state.condition)

**Through:** When work is applied to a substance, its internal pattern resists alteration, creating a firm state.

**Novel properties:**
- resistance to deformation
- firmness
- difficulty to change

## Examples
- The Hoover Dam's concrete core resists cracking under decades of water pressure and temperature swings. *(engineering)*
- Diamond anvils in high-pressure experiments maintain structural integrity at 300 gigapascals. *(physics)*
- The U.S. Social Security Administration's mainframe systems process payments without failure since 1973. *(institutions)*

## Used by
- [rock](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-rock.material) (L14)
- [trap](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-trap.undesirable) (L15)

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hard.difficulty*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hard.difficulty.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*