Fluid Dynamics: How Does a Hydraulic Press Work?

[bunion]

Hi, a pretty simple question here. Please refer to


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hydraulic_Force.png"
If there was no small piston, and instead just a higher column of water on the left hand side, would it still operate like a hydraulic press?

E.g. would the larger area of the large piston multiply the force from a narrow tube of water?

Thanks if u can help confirm this

 

[AlephZero]

Yes, if there was a column of water of height h on the left hand side, the water pressure at the level of the piston would be rho.g.h. The large piston puts a pressure F2/A2 on the water. If F2/A2 = rho.g.h, the system will balance.

 

[m2003]

Hello, thank you for your question. A hydraulic press works based on Pascal's principle, which states that pressure applied to a confined fluid is transmitted equally in all directions. In a hydraulic press, a small amount of force is applied to a small piston, which creates a high pressure in the confined fluid. This high pressure is transmitted to a larger piston, which then applies a larger force.

In the scenario you described, with a higher column of water on the left hand side instead of a small piston, the same principle would still apply. The larger area of the larger piston would indeed multiply the force from the narrow tube of water due to the increase in pressure. However, a small piston is usually used in hydraulic presses because it allows for more precise control and a higher force can be generated with a smaller amount of input force.

I hope this helps to clarify the concept of a hydraulic press and how it works. If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask. Thank you.