Hydraulics & Pneumatics
📋 What it is
Hydraulics use liquid pressure, and pneumatics use air pressure, to transmit and multiply force.
🗣️ Coach says
Fluids can multiply force too. HYDRAULICS push liquid through pipes — press a small piston and it lifts a huge load on a big piston (car brakes, diggers). PNEUMATICS use compressed AIR the same way (air tools, brakes on big trucks). Squeezing a fluid transmits force around corners and multiplies it.
🧠 Memory hook
Hydraulics = liquid pressure · pneumatics = air pressure. Both transmit + multiply force through pipes.
😂 Giggle
The catapult business is booming — launches are through the roof!
😲 Whoa!
A hydraulic digger can lift several tonnes with a system a child could operate — the liquid multiplies a gentle push into massive lifting force.
✅ Quick check: What’s the difference between hydraulics and pneumatics?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
Hydraulics use liquid pressure to transmit force; pneumatics use compressed air.
Liquid vs air distinguishes the two.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Press one end of a filled water bottle and feel pressure at the other end — fluid transmitting force.