Atmospheric pressure

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/atmospheric-pressure

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the pressure gradient force?The force that drives wind, acting from high to low pressure
2. What is the barometric formula?An equation relating atmospheric pressure to altitude
3. Why does water boil at a lower temperature on a mountain?At higher places the air pressure is lower, so water needs less heat to turn into steam. That’s why it boils at a lower temperature up in the mountains.
4. How did scientists first discover atmospheric pressure?In 1643, Evangelista Torricelli invented the barometer, a tube of mercury that showed the height of the mercury column was held up by the weight of the air.

Pascal (Pa): The SI unit of pressure, equal to one Newton per square meter.
Pressure Gradient: The rate of change of pressure over a distance.
Hydrostatic Equilibrium: A state where the inward pull of gravity is balanced by the outward push of pressure.