Question

You are designing a hydraulic lift for a machine shop. the average mass of a car it needs to lift is about 1500 kg. you wish to exert a force on a smaller piston of not more than 450 n . part a what should be the specifications on the dimensions of the pistons?

Answer 1

You want the force/area ratio to be the same for both pistons to keep constant pressure. Since 1500/450=3.333, you will need to pick the two sets of dimensions such that (assuming the pistons are rectangular) the product of the pair of dimensions for the 1500 kg piston is 3.333 times the product of the pair of dimensions for the 450 kg piston.