How do pistons make life easier?
Pushing in one piston causes pressure to be transferred to another piston, which is pushed out at the same pressure. While it’s a simple idea, it can lead to some pretty tricky machines. When you visit the Factory, see if you can beat the Amazing Air table-top maze. It’s a simple pair of pistons that tip the table back and forth, but that doesn’t mean it’s simple to control!
When you push your foot against the brake pedal in your car, it’s a piston that transfers that push to the brake pad in the car’s wheel.
As well, pistons can magnify force when you use a smaller piston to push on a larger piston. Your car brakes also make use of this property. While your foot pushes the pedal many centimetres to stop the car, it magnifies that force to move your brake pad only a short distance. That magnified force allows you to stop a heavy car with just the strength of your foot.
Pistons can also magnify movement when you use a large force to push a larger piston against a smaller one. Both Pump it Up and Pascal’s See Saw in the Factory let you experiment with smaller and larger pistons to see how the pressure and force is transferred between the two.
