How are you going to do it? Think about air pressing down Imagine you're an inventor and your job is to create a machine that can

Photo by Andy Dunaway courtesy of Defense Imagery. Because air pressure varies in a very predictable way with height, some altimeters measure height above sea level simply by measuring air pressure. Photo: A combined digital barometer and altimeter (instrument for measuring height above sea level) used for weather forecasting. When the air warms and rises to create regions of low pressure and Pressure like this are linked with fine weather. It increases the pressure nearer to the ground. That'sĬonstantly spinning and moving round the Sun, so different parts areīeing warmed up by different amounts. Higher pressure than it would normally be at that altitude) so peopleĮven in one place, the air pressure is constantly changing. Pressurized cabins (internal passenger compartments, where the air is That's why mountain climbers often have to Way up in the atmosphere, there's much less air-so there's The most amount of air pushing down) and gets lower the higher up you Why air pressure changes from place to placeĪir pressure varies all across our planet. That's why we don't feelĪir pressure in the same way we feel water pressure. Lungs are full of air, so the air presses equally on the inside and Pressure never has this effect because our bodies are hollow and our In on your body makes it hard to breathe from your oxygen tank. When you're under the sea, the weight of water pressing That gas might look like a vast, empty cloud of nothing, but it still The huge amount of gas surrounding our planet and Look up at the sky and try to imagine the weight of the atmosphere: There's pressure pushing in on your body even if you never go in Go, the more water there is above you, the more it weighs, and the more pressure you feel. Diveĭown beneath the surface of the sea and you'll soon feel the weight If you've ever been scuba diving, you'll know just what pressure feels like. The higher up you go, the 'thinner' the air gets (the fewer the air molecules) and the less the pressure. Photo: Are you feeling under pressure? It's caused by the weight of a column of air (mostly molecules of nitrogen and oxygen) pressing down on you. Why air pressure changes from place to place.

Digital atmosphere pattern