Apture™

Searching...
ExploreVideosImages
Start typing to see suggestions...
Search for ""
Share on
Facebook

Share on
Twitter

Share via
email

o Join
r Us

Over 6,042,000 live tutoring sessions served !

Home

Online Tutoring

About Us

Applications of Pascal's law

Home>Physics>Physics III>Mechanics of Solids and Fluids> Applications of Pascal's law
A hydraulic lift is used to lift heavy loads. It consists of two pistons of varying cross-sectional
area. The two pistons are connected to each other with a horizontal pipe. The container is filled
with an incompressible liquid. The load to be lifted, is placed on the piston of larger cross-
sectional area. Let a downward force f (say equal to 5 Kg) be applied on the smaller piston. The

pressure where a is area of cross section of the smaller piston. As this pressure is

transmitted equally to the large piston, the upward force acting on the loads is

Hydraulic press or Brahma press

Hydraulic press is used to compress soft materials like cotton, paper, and cloth. These soft
materials are placed on the larger piston as shown.
Hydraulic brake
Atmospheric pressure
The gaseous envelope surrounding the Earth is called earth's atmosphere, extending to a few
kilometres above the surface. The pressure exerted by the atmosphere is called atmospheric
pressure. The magnitude of this pressure is nearly 1.01x105N/m2 (Refer Torricelli's experiment)
at sea level.
An experiment was conducted by Otto Van Guericke at Magdeburg, where ten horses,
unsuccessfully, tried to pull two copper hemispheres (with no air inside) apart.
The presence of atmospheric pressure can be studied
through following illustrations
Activity I
Remove air from a can by putting a little water into the can and boiling the water in it. The steam
forces the air out. Close the opening and keep it below a tap, we find the can crumbling as the
pressure inside the can is very small when compared to the pressure outside.
Activity II
In the above arrangement where the cardboard is intact, water does not come out of the tumbler
as the cardboard is balanced due to pressure of liquid in the tumbler and the atmospheric pressure
from below.

Activity III
The fan driven by an electric motor reduces the pressure near the mouthpiece. The pressure due
to atmosphere being large, forces air along with dust particles into the long tube and then, into
the bag. The fan forces the air out of the sweeper.
Activity IV
Wet the rim of the plumber's force cup with water and press it against the wall to squeeze out
most of the air. We find it difficult to pull the cup. (This simple principle is used to remove any
blocks in holes of washbasin)

A Plumber's force cup pushed against a blackboard

A Plumber's force Cup is pushed against the blackboard. What prevents it from being pulled
away?
While drinking through a straw, we suck. This expands the lungs and air passes into them. Since
atmospheric pressure inside the bottle is greater, the liquid is pushed up through the straw.
Torricelli's experiment
Torricelli devised a method to measure the atmospheric pressure. He took a 1metre long glass
tube of uniform area of cross-section, closed at one end. He filled the whole tube with mercury
so that no air or water droplets remained inside. He inverted the glass tube, closing the open end
with his thumb, into a trough containing mercury. The mercury dripped down and settled at a
height of 76cm from the level of mercury in the trough, as shown.
Torricelli explained that the hydrostatic pressure exerted by the vertical column in the tube
balanced the atmospheric pressure, acting on the free surface of the mercury in the meniscus.

On inclining, raising or lowering the trough, the vertical height was found to be 76cm.

Atmospheric pressure = hrg

Units of atmospheric pressure

• SI unit of pressure is N/m2 or Pascal (Pa)

• Atmospheric pressure is also expressed in mm of Hg or cm of Hg.

• Another unit is torr. [1 torr= 1mm of Hg]
• For meteorological purposes, the unit used is bar.

Got a question? We will answer it for you :

Related Pages
• Crystalline and Amorphous Solids
• Applications of Archimedes' Principle
• Archimede's Principle
 • Bernoullis theorem Animation
• Application of Bernoulli's Theorem
• Bernoulli's Theorem
• Buoyant force Animation
• Capillarity
• Equations of Continuity
• Critical Velocity
• Crystalline and amorphous solids Animation
• Elasticity and Deforming Forces
• Demonstration pascals law Animation
• Elasticity applications Animation
• Applications of Elasticity
• Types of Modulus of Elasticity
• Floating and Sinking
• Hooke's law
• Hydraulic brake Animation
• Hydraulic press Animation

Explore Related Concepts

• Applications of pascal's law
• Demonstration of pascals Law animation
• Pascal's law
• Pascals law
• Application of pascal principle
• Applications of pascal's principle
• Application of pascal's principle
• Solved examples on pascals law
• With applicable laws
• Application of law of conservation of energy
Top of Form

Search Tutorvista:
Bottom of Form

*AP and SAT are registered trademarks of the College Board.

About Us | Contact Us | Blog | Homework Help | Teaching Jobs | Search Lessons |
Questions | School | Answers
Copyright © 2010 - TutorVista.com, All rights reserved.