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Air pressure

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Barometer Atmospheric pressure is the pressure of air above the land surface. It
is also an abiotic factor. The atmosphere has an average pressure of 1013 hecto
pascals, hPa (disused millibars, mb) at sea level. Atmospheric pressure measurem
ent in the International System of Units (SI) is the newton per square meter (N
/ m²) or Pascal (Pa). The atmospheric pressure at sea level in international uni
ts is 101 325 N / m² or Pa. When the air is cold, it descends, making and causin
g increased pressure stability. It is, therefore, a thermal anticyclone. When th
e air is hot, rising, by lowering the pressure and causing instability. Should f
orm a cyclone or storm heat. In addition, cold air and warm tend not to mix, bec
ause the density difference, and when they are on the surface, cold air pushes w
arm air upward causing a decrease of pressure and instability on the dynamic cau
ses. Should form a cyclone or storm dynamics. This contact zone is known as the
front. When the cold and warm air are in height, descend dynamic convergence, wi
th increasing pressure and causing stability, and the resulting increase in temp
erature. Is formed, then a dynamic anticyclone.
History [edit]
The philosophers of antiquity, far from suspecting the weight of air, it felt li
ke a body that by its nature tended to rise, explaining the rise of the liquid i
n the drain pumps vacui, "abhors a vacuum", which has the nature. When the garde
ners of Florence wanted to raise the water with a propeller pump, appreciated th
at the height could not exceed 32 feet (nearly 11 m). Retrieved Galileo, he dete
rmined that the horrors of nature was limited vacuum with a force
weight equivalent to 32 feet of water (which amounts to 1 atm of pressure), and
called to that high limitatíssima altezza.
Torricelli's experiment with a tube and mercury. In 1643, Torricelli took a glas
s tube about one meter in length and filled it with "living silver" (mercury). K
eeping the tube closed with a finger, she invested and introduced into a vessel
containing mercury. Removing the finger found that the metal sank to form a colu
mn whose height was 14 times lower than that obtained when performing the experi
ment with water. Knowing that mercury was 14 times heavier than water, concluded
that both were supported columnar liquid counterweight equally, suspecting that
the air was only able to perform such a force. A Torricelli's untimely death, h
is experiments reached the ears of Pascal, through the Father Mersenne that was
released in Paris. Although initially accepting the theory abhors a vacuum, Pasc
al soon change your mind to see the results of experiments performed. Using a be
nt tube and using it so that the atmosphere had no influence on liquid columns o
bserved that reached the same level. However, when allowing the action of the at
mosphere, the level varied. These results led him to approach the final experime
nt, of transporting the barometer at different altitudes and check whether it wa
s really the weight of air that determined the rise of liquid in the tube. Writi
ng to Perier, one of his relatives, November 15, 1647 about the planned experime
nt, said:
If it happens that the height of the quicksilver is smaller at the top of the mo
untain, below, is necessarily reduced gravity and air pressure is the only cause
for this suspension of quicksilver, and not the fear of emptiness, because it i
s true that there is more air that despite the foot of the mountain at its apex.
On September 19, 1648, Peli fulfilled the wish of his brother, and carried out t
he experiment rising to the top of the Puy-de-Dôme. Comparing the measurement ta
ken at the top, situated at an altitude of 500 fathoms (1,000 m), with the base,
taken by the father Chastine, they found a difference of three and a half lines
between them. The idea of horror vacui was finally abandoned, the air heavy. Wi
thout doubt the merit of the experiment, however, was Descartes who, in a letter
written in 1631, 12 years before the experiment of Torricelli, stated as
The air is heavy, you can compare a large woolen shawl around the Earth to beyon
d the clouds, the weight of this wool compresses the surface of the mercury in C
uba, preventing falls mercurial column.
It was however following the demonstration in 1654 by the mayor and inventor Ott
o Guericke with his Magdeburg hemisphere captivated the public and other illustr
ious figures of the time to expand and understand the concept of atmospheric pre
ssure.
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE why the water rises through the bulb to suck?
It is no suction force one does alone. Although it seems to have nothing to do,
to make use mate the weight of air above our heads. All the air is above us is s
ignificant. Both distribute gas or liquid pressure in all directions. Before fur
ther clarify the meaning of a word: pressure. For the physical pressure is not a
force. The forces act in certain directions, no pressure. To be a good idea, co
nsider the
pressure as force per unit area. That is precisely defined. It is a force distri
buted over an area, so every time you see a pressure will be accompanied by some
units such as kg / cm ², which indicates that it is a force of so many kilogram
s per square centimeter of surface to be exposed to such pressure. How is this t
hen the pressure in all directions? Not that being indoors does not feel the wei
ght of the atmosphere and out into the open we suddenly drop all that weight. We
know from experience that this is not true. Just the weight is distributed in a
ll directions. About mate pressure is being exerted from all sides. What we hope
for is to reduce the pressure inside the bulb, then the liquid will feel greate
r pressure coming from outside the mate, and will be introduced into the bulb wh
ere there is less pressure. That is why dentists suggest, following an extractio
n, not drinking mate because when you create a pressure drop in the mouth, it ca
n open the wounds. The same happens with a straw. If it is perforated, the liqui
d absorbing a hard time because the atmospheric pressure will act through the ho
le to compensate for the decrease in absorption pressure. An experiment: If you
take a gas or liquid, try it with two straws, one that goes from your mouth to t
he liquid, as is customary, the other of your mouth out from the can or glass. W
hen you try to absorb you will see that this task is impossible. The second stra
w equalizes instantly external and internal pressures of your mouth. This is sim
ilar to what happens to the straw broken or punctured.
The atmosphere weighs
If we are above sea level can also say that we are at the bottom of an ocean of
air. Torricelli would measure the pressure in a famous experiment. For 1643 ther
e emerged a strange and interesting problem. The miners used to raise water pump
s, but none of them could raise more than 10 meters. Why?. It was believed until
then that the vacuum pump was produced to raise the water pipe, in the same way
that most now think is the strength of absorption
our lungs, bringing the liquid in the bulb of the gourd. But there is no vacuum,
no matter how powerful it is to raise more than 10 meters of water. Torricelli
made the change of vision problem that achieved dispel the mystery. He suggested
that there was no force or vacuum pump which raised the water but the atmospher
ic pressure. And this pressure was a limit, so it would not get up more than ten
meters, the water level in a tube. If he was right to try. He chose the heavier
liquid we know, Mercury: 13.6 times the density of water. If the atmospheric pr
essure amounted to almost ten meters water (whose density is 1), mercury would r
aise 1 / 13, 5 of that height. Torricelli filled a tube 1.80 m in height with me
rcury, covered it and turned it on a plate with mercury. When removing the mercu
ry dropped to a height of 76.2 cm, which was expected according to the hypothesi
s. So it was that first measured the pressure of this ocean of air above us. The
value of this pressure is approximately 1.033 kg per square centimeter. Only in
the palm of your hand is getting a force of 50 Kg We say approximately because
the atmospheric pressure value varies hour to hour and from place to place. To s
tandardize the issue somewhat taken an average value (the one we gave above) and
it says that this is the value of an atmosphere.
Evangelista Torricelli
Italian physicist and mathematician. Born in Faenza in 1608. Studied in that cit
y and Rome. Coming from a noble family, and taking popularity with his writings
in mathematics, was summoned to Rome by Galileo. Disciple of Galileo onwards, as
sisted him to death, serving as a guide in his blindness,€It happens in educatio
n in the Florentine Studio. His remembered experience, where born barometers, re
jected the Aristotelian idea about the vacuum, which he said could not exist. To
rricelli noted that what was left above the level of mercury in their inverted t
ube was just empty. His works were wide, wrote a treatise on motion, calculated
the escape velocity of a liquid from its container, built lenses and glasses of
highest quality. He was a pioneer in the calculus Geometric wrote his opera in 1
644, died in Florence in 1647. Density Density is defined as the mass of a mater
ial divided by the volume it occupies. It is a very useful because it allows us
to compare various materials. Pure water is established as a unit of measurement
. Anything that has a density greater than 1 (one) will sink in water, and have
lower density than one (ie zero point ...) float.
It is important to clarify two things: - There is a similar magnitude called Den
sity essentially no different in any way with density, except that in the Densit
y MASA is not used but the weight of the object, and therefore change from plane
t to planet. The mass density to use (not including gravity) is more universal.
- Do not confuse density with viscosity. Do you not confusing? Now, what is more
dense, oil or water?.
The water is denser than oil, so the oil floats on water. We said that anything
less dense than water it floated. The confusing thing is that a viscosity (or wh
at seems so thick fluid) with the topic of density. To convince even one liter o
f oil and then one of water. You will see that a liter of oil weighs less. The w
ater weighs exactly one kilogram, not by chance, but so was defined based on the
metric system and taking water as reference. Air Ocean measured Torricelli What
is also valid for liquids. A gas liquids and fluids in general call. In the flu
id feel pressure from all directions and increases with depth.
How much pressure increases with depth? It is easy to remember if we remember th
e problem of water pumps that Torricelli tried. The atmosphere could only raise
water 10 meters. So more or less per ten meters of depth we step, the pressure i
ncreases by 1 atmosphere. The dive, a diver is exposed to a new danger. A high p
ressure breathing nitrogen dissolves in the blood. If decompression, ie the rise
, it is fast the bubbles generated in the bloodstream can cause paralysis, to an
d from intense pain, and can even cause death. To avoid the diver must stay some
time in midwater for your body to renew the gases in the blood at a lower press
ure. This security procedure in the rise suggested by the French physiologist Pa
ul Bert in 1878. Anyway, for more care taken, the human body can not withstand t
oo much pressure, so to go diving requires pressurized aircraft, ie with a norma
l internal pressure.
A safe flight
If Torricelli's experiment actually measured the weight of the atmosphere above
the apparatus, it was obvious to assume that with the rise would be less air abo
ve the instrument and
therefore it should measure less pressure. To verify this, Pascal told his broth
er to a mountain with two barometers (jokes aside). Upon reaching an altitude of
one mile, the pressure that marked the barometer (let's call it the instrument
for measuring pressure) was actually lower. The mercury had dropped from 762 mm
to 685mm.
Between now and think that was a good barometer for measuring instrument is a sm
all step heights. And they did. A barometer used in this way is called malt. But
at least near the surface, each eight meters have a drop in pressure of 1 g / c
m ². The higher, the variation is smaller. Given this difference in measurement
of 5 or 6 g / cm ² is a good height, substantial difference between a potential
crash or not. The problem is that the climate it produces these pressure variati
ons, which would result in an incorrect reading on the altimeter with highly dan
gerous consequences for the aircraft and its passengers. What is usually done is
to correct the altimeter measurements based on static benchmarks. Currently the
heights of the flights are emitting an electromagnetic signal to the ground and
getting the echo. According to the delay time is automatically calculated heigh
t very accurately.€The method is similar to the way a sonar measures the depth b
elow the boat. With the help of satellite measurements are increasingly precise
and therefore safer. On the other hand, we must take into account the pressure d
rop in the heights for which these ships travel. That is the reason why the deck
s as the passenger is pressurized, that is kept at a constant pressure of normal
value. In that case the aircraft has an internal pressure greater than the exte
rnal.
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Measurement of atmospheric pressure
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Description Introduction Activities References
On this page, it simulates a very simple experiment designed to measure atmosphe
ric pressure, which the authors of the article cited in the references, produces
good results.
Introduction
Evangelista Torricelli invented the instrument to measure atmospheric pressure,
the barometer. A long tube closed at one end is filled with mercury and then tur
ns it over a container of the liquid metal, as shown in Fig. The closed end of t
he tube is almost empty, so the pressure is zero. According to the fundamental e
quation of hydrostatics, the atmospheric pressure is
Pa = ρgh
• • •
ρ is the density of me cu y = 13 550 kg/m3 ρ g is the accele ation of g avity g
= 9.81 m/s2 h is the height of the me cu y column h = 0.76 m at sea level
Pa = 101 023 Pa
Desc iption
The figu e shows the expe imental device. 100 cm3 sy inge is placed ve tically a
nd

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