How does Hydraulic Press stop so fast after shaterring something? Why isn’t there any momentum?
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what momentum? the press was moving slowly to begin with, so after the thing shatters, it just continues at the speed it was already moving, which was slow
what you’re probably thinking about what it would do if the press used gas instead of liquid. liquids don’t compress, and that’s why they’re used for this purpose. this means you can only fill a container until it’s full with a liquid. with a gas, after it’s full, you can continue to put more gas into the container, and the gas just squishes in there.
so if you put a gas in there, once the thing shatters, that gas wants to escape since it’s being held under pressure (picture releasing an inflated balloon that you haven’t tied yet), so the air forces the piston outward at a crazy high speed. with a liquid, since it can’t compress, as soon as the container ruptures, the liquid just pours out normally like out of a broken glass or mug.
this is also why they use liquids to pressure test air tanks. air tanks pressure tested with air = bomb. air tanks pressure tested with water = safe.
this is also why air jacks are considered dangerous. i heard a story of a guy who ignored safety warnings and used an air jack on the bumper of a car. like one of those big external chrome bumpers from an 80’s car. he bent over the front of the car, and the bumper came off (you aren’t supposed to use them for jacking a car up), and the pressure in the jack(s) shot the bumper into the man’s face, severely disfiguring him. it crushed every bone in his face. had it been a hydraulic jack (means they have liquid in them), the car would’ve fallen and the bumper would jumped a few inches at most (from it storing energy from bending ever so slightly).
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