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.