Consider a vertical piston/cylinder system. The piston has a mass of 35 kg and has an unknown radius. There is a pressure gauge to output the pressure inside the cylinder. If the piston is compressed and the pressure gauge reads 300 kPa. What is the area of the piston

Area of the piston = 1.143 * 10^-3 m^2

Explanation:

Here, we are tasked with calculating the area of the piston.

Mathematically, the area of the piston =

Piston force / cylinder pressure

From the question,

Piston force = mg where m is the mass of the piston = 35 kg and g is the acceleration due to gravity = 9.8 m/s^2

Thus, piston force = 35 * 9.8 = 343 N

Now the pressure gauge reads 300 KPa and 1KPa = 300 * 10^3 Pa = 300000 Pa

Thus, the area of the piston = 343/300000 =

0.001143333333 m^2 which is simply 1.143 * 10^-3 m^2