A shock is straight contracting/expanding tube with swivel-balls on both ends. A strut is a form of shock which rather than having swivel balls on the ends, instead incorporates brackets and mounts to locate the camber (inward-lean) and caster (backward-tilt) of a kingpin on which the hub/brake/wheel assembly pivots.
Well basically a strut is a full suspension assembly consisting of a shock and a spring. A strut is a large suspension component where as a shock is a smaller sub-component in the system. So really the addition of a coil-over spring is the only main difference between the two.
Gas. Simply enough the difference between the two is compression rate, dampening rate, stiffness, and ride feel. Struts are the new shocks. Older vehicles have shocks in the front to hold the weight of the motor and struts in the rear for better control.
A shock absorber controls the rate of suspension movement in relation to spring (leaf, coil, torsion bar, etc. ) contraction. The strut does the same thing yet incorporates the spring (coil only) in one unit.
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