In "Time's Arrow," Data carries an anvil with one hand quite leisurely; he lifts a larger anvil in "Thine Own Self." In addition, he lifts a large metal beam in "Hero Worship" and is considerably stronger than both Borgs and Klingons.
Has Data's physical strength ever been quantified, in the same way, for example, that his processing speed has? Is there any way to deduce his strength based on canon showings?
Picard (in TNG : The Offspring) offers his own assessment of Lal's physical strength. Since she was based on Data's own physiology, it's likely her strength is similar to his.
Obviously he's using hyperbole but there's no reason to assume his assessment is wildly inaccurate:
PICARD : (frowns) If he must, fine. But I don't understand how he can call a five foot android, with heuristic learning systems and the strength of a ten men a "child".
We see him carrying a 2-300 pound anvil with one hand in "TNG: Times Arrow". Someone with the strength of 10 men could easily accomplish this feat.
Data casually reaches down with one hand -- AND PICKS UP THE ANVIL as though it weighed an ounce. He starts toward the center of the room -- there's a noise of astonishment from the Bellboy.
and of course the most obvious feat of "meta-human" (mega) strength from TNG : Measure of a Man
Riker : Your honor, I offer into evidence prosecution's exhibit A. A bar of plasteel with a tensile strength of forty kilo-bars.
Data easily bends the bar.
Well, one "bar" is 100 kilo pascals, or the equivalent of atmospheric pressure at sea level. So the largest measurement of his strength in bending the bar was 40k x 100k pascals. this turns out to be 580150.95202887 pounds per square inch. Essentially his subframe would give out before he could exert his full strength on anything.
