5.

6 THE PRINCIPLE OF
HYDRAULIC SYSTEM IN
EVERYDAY LIFE
The Principle of Transmission of Pressure In
Liquids
In liquid, pressure is transmitted
equally in all directions, causing
the water to spurt out in all
directions.
Pascals Principle:
The pressure applied to a liquid
in an enclosed system is
transmitted equally to every part
of the liquid.
This is because liquids are
difficult to compress, so they are
transmitted in all directions.
The Hydraulic System
The transmission of pressure in liquids can be
applied to the operation of a hydraulic system.

As stated in
Pascals principle,
the pressure
applied to an
enclosed liquid is
transmitted
equally to all part
of liquid.
The pressure on
the large piston is
equal to the
pressure on the
small piston.


Since the larger piston has a bigger surface area,
the FORCE exerted on the large piston would be
greater (not the pressure! Because the pressure on
both pistons is the same)
The bigger the surface area of the large piston, the
greater the force is produced.
Examples of machines that operate using the
principle of hydraulic system
EXAMPLE 1
The surface areas of piston A and piston B are 0.05 m
2
and
0.5 m
2
respectively. If a force of 20 N is exerted on piston A,
calculate:
a)the pressure exerted on the liquid by piston A
b)the pressure exerted on piston B
c)the force exerted by piston B on the load
Piston A Piston B
20 N
EXAMPLE 2
How much force does piston A require to balance the load
with a weight of 400 N?
A 4 N C 320 N
B 5 N D 200 N
Piston A
(0.01 m
2
)
Piston B
(0.8 m
2
)
Force
400 N