Atmospheric pressure
Atmospheric pressure is the pressure exerted by the weight of air in the atmosphere of Earth (or another planet).
You are currently being pressed on from above by 1,000 kilograms of air, the equivalent of the weight of a small car. This is because the Earth’s atmosphere is actually quite heavy, and humans stand at the bottom of an ocean of air carrying an atmospheric pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch. We are adapted to withstand this pressure, and avoid being crushed by absorbing equally pressurized air into our bodies. However, impermeable objects such as plastic bottles released at altitude are crushed by the time they reach the Earth’s surface.
This plastic bottle was sealed at approximately 14,000 feet (4,300 m) altitude, and was crushed by the increase in atmospheric pressure —at 9,000 feet (2,700 m) and 1,000 feet (300 m)— as it was brought down towards sea level.
As altitude increases, there is less overlying atmospheric mass, so that atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing elevation.
Atmospheric pressure is the pressure exerted by the weight of air in the atmosphere of Earth (or another planet).
You are currently being pressed on from above by 1,000 kilograms of air, the equivalent of the weight of a small car. This is because the Earth’s atmosphere is actually quite heavy, and humans stand at the bottom of an ocean of air carrying an atmospheric pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch. We are adapted to withstand this pressure, and avoid being crushed by absorbing equally pressurized air into our bodies. However, impermeable objects such as plastic bottles released at altitude are crushed by the time they reach the Earth’s surface.
As altitude increases, there is less overlying atmospheric mass, so that atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing elevation.
No comments:
Post a Comment