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Question

(a) What is meant by atmospheric pressure? What is the cause of atmospheric pressure?

(b) Why are our bodies not crushed by the large pressure exerted by the atmosphere?

(c) Explain why, atmospheric pressure decreases as we go higher up above the earth's surface.


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Solution

(a) Atmospheric pressure is the force forced on a surface by the air above it as gravity pulls it to Earth. Atmospheric pressure is literally the weight of the atmosphere as measured at sea level. It is caused by the weight of the atmosphere pushing down on itself and on the surface below it.

(b) The atmospheric pressure forces towards our body but the blood pressure forces outwards our body this keeps a balance between our body and the atmosphere. There is a difference between the external atmospheric pressure and the internal pressure of our body, so the body can blow up in the outer space if there is an excessive blood pressure. Our bodies are not crushed by the atmospheric pressure because of the equality between the body pressure and the atmospheric pressure.

(c) The pressure at any level in the atmosphere may be interpreted as the total weight of the air above a unit area at any elevation. Since most of the atmosphere's molecules are held close to the earth's surface by the force of gravity, air pressure decreases rapidly at first, then more slowly at higher levels.


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