What is air pressure?
Atmospheric pressure is the pressure at any given point in the Earth’s atmosphere. In most circumstances atmospheric pressure is closely approximated by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above the measurement point. Low pressure areas have less atmospheric mass above their location, whereas high pressure areas have more atmospheric mass above their location. Similarly, as elevation increases there is less overlying atmospheric mass, so that pressure decreases with increasing elevation. A column of air 1 square inch in cross section, measured from sea level to the top of the atmosphere, would weigh approximately 14.7 lbf. A 1 m² (11 sq ft) column of air would weigh about 100 kilonewtons (equivalent to a mass of 10.2 tonnes at the surface).The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure and is defined as being precisely equal to 101.325 kPa. The following non-standard units are equivalent: 760 mmHg (torr), 29.92 inHg or 14.696 PSI. One standard atmosphere i
