system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can a material under high stress break at random without any additional change to the system?

Lets say a ballpoint pen is pushing on the centre of a tensioned sheet of foil so that the foil is as close to its breaking point as possible. If there are no external changes (vibrations, temperature change, etc.) could the foil still randomly snap?

This was just an analogy similar to the situation that had me puzzling, but apply it to the breaking point of any material if preferable.
gpt
Yes. There is a process call creep which is a slow yielding of the material under a stress below what is considered the yield stress. As it thins the real stress increases and will fail.

This is more typical for polymers than metals.