💧 HYDRAULIC ADVANTAGE
PAGE 1 OF 5, SMALL PUSH, BIG LIFT
LIFT A CAR
WHAT IS HYDRAULIC ADVANTAGE?
A hydraulic system uses liquid in sealed tubes and cylinders to move force from one place to another. Press a small piston with a modest force, and a much larger piston on the other end can lift a car. That force multiplication is hydraulic advantage. It works because liquids are nearly incompressible: you cannot squeeze their volume much, so pressure travels through the fluid almost instantly. Push on one end, and the liquid pushes back on every surface it touches. Engineers design the piston areas so a small input force becomes a huge output force. You trade distance for force: the small piston must travel farther than the large one rises.
💧 HYDRAULICS
Hydraulic advantage means a small force on a small piston can produce a large force on a large piston, because pressure in a confined liquid is the same throughout.
LIFT!
SMALL PISTON
👆 Modest force on a small area
📏 Piston travels a longer distance
🔧 Often called the master cylinder
📏 Piston travels a longer distance
🔧 Often called the master cylinder
LARGE PISTON
🚗 Huge force on a large area
📐 Rises a shorter distance
🛠️ Often called the slave cylinder
📐 Rises a shorter distance
🛠️ Often called the slave cylinder