Question

In a hydraulic system, a force of 400 N is exerted on a piston with an area of .001 m^2. The load-bearing piston in the system has an area of .2 m^2.
a: What is the pressure in the hydraulic fluid?
b: What is the magnitude of the force exerted on the load-bearing piston by the
hydraulic fluid?

Answer 1

The Hydraulic lift works based on the Pascal’s principle, which states that the pressure applied to an enclosed fluid is uniformly distributed throughout.

(a)

The pressure exerted on the smaller piston is given as follows:

Here, is the force exerted on the smaller piston and is the area of the smaller piston.

Substitute for and for.

Therefore, the pressure exerted on the small piston is.

(b)

The pressure exerted on the smaller piston is equal to that on the larger piston.

Here, is the force exerted on the larger piston or load bearing piston and is the cross sectional area of the piston.

Rearrange the equation for.

Substitute for and for.

Therefore, the force exerted on the larger piston or load bearing piston is.