IT Worksheet: Hydraulic Lift Name:__________________________________ Class: ______ Date: ________

AIM

To apply the following relationships to a real life application like hydraulic lift force o presure = and area o pressure = gh (liquid)

INTRODUCTION A hydraulic lift is often used to lift very heavy objects by an application of a small force. The basic structure of a hydraulic lift is shown in the applet.

How to use the applet Select cement mixer at the pull down menu. Check that the slider for Piston A Area: Piston B Area is set to 3:1 first A force can be exerted on piston B using the force slider on the right of the applet window. Drag the slider to choose a force. Click the play button. Do the pistons move? If the pistons do not move, this means that the force is not big enough, you have to apply a bigger force and try again. As the pistons start to move, does piston B reach Level B when it stops? If piston B reaches Level B, this means that the force applied is too big, you have to reduce the force and try again. ( You may have to try this a few times before you get what is required.

PART A

Finding weight of vehicle

Please select Cement Mixer. 1. What is the force exerted on piston B? FB = __________ N. 2. What is the cross-sectional area of piston B? Area of piston B, AB = __________ m2. 3. What is the pressure due to the force F at piston B? PB = _______________ Pa 4. What is the cross-sectional area of piston A? Area of piston A, AA = __________ m2. 5.
Click the Ruler tool. Click and drag the tool to measure the vertical distance between the two pistons. Record this as h. (e.g. h = 0.67 m when FB = 9652.5 N)

h = ______________m

6. Given that the density of the fluid, is 1000 kg m-3. What is the pressure due to the fluid of height h? Pressure due to the fluid of height h = g h = __________ Pa. Look at the applet window again, which piston is higher? If piston A is higher than piston B, Pressure due to vehicle = Pressure due to F g h. If piston A is lower than piston B, Pressure due to vehicle = Pressure due to F + g h.

7.

Use the correct expression given above to calculate the pressure at piston A PA = __________ Pa.

8.

Use the formula p =

F to deduce the weight of the cement mixer A

Weight of cement mixer, W = ______________ N 9. Using the same method, find out the weight of the two more vehicles. Vehicle FB (N) AB (m2) PF (Pa) AA (m2) h (m)
g h (Pa)
PA (Pa)

Car

Bus

W (N)

B 1. 2. 3.

Varying the area of piston Select cement mixer at the pull down menu again. Move the slider for Piston A Area: Piston B Area is set to 6:1. Predict an approximate value of the force exerted on Piston B to lift up the cement vehicle. Adjust the force slider to change the size of force exerted on piston B. Predicted FB = __________ N. Actual FB = ___________ N.

Question What is the effect of increasing the ratio of piston areas on the force to lift up the vehicle? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________