04/08/2020 On the inside of an airplane the air pressure is about 85% of the atmospheric pressure at sea-level while outside,

e outside, when it is cruisin…

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On the inside of an airplane the air pressure is

about 85% of the atmospheric pressure at...

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Question:
On the inside of an airplane the air pressure is about 85% of the atmospheric pressure at sea-level while outside,
when it is cruising, the pressure is about 25% of the sea level atmospheric pressure. If a window is 0.46 m in diameter,
what is the net outward force on the window in Newtons? What is the force in pounds?

Pressure, Force, and Area:

The force acting on an object is a measure of the pushing or pulling e ect. A force generally acts across a surface
area. Denoting the force by F and the area by A, we obtain the pressure acting on the body as:
F
P =
A

 Answer and Explanation:

We are given the pressure inside the cabin and outside in terms of atmospheric pressure, which has a value of
101325 Pa.

The internal pressure is:

85
.
2 2
Pi = × 101325 N/m = 86126.25 N/m
100

The external pressure is:

25
.
2 2
Po = × 101325 N/m = 25331.25 N/m
100

The pressure di erence is:

Pd = Pi − Po
2 2
= 86126.25 N/m − 25331.25 N/m .
2
= 60795 N/m

The window is assumed to be circular. Then, knowing its diameter to be d = 0.46 m , we nd the net outward force
on it to be:
2
π × (0.46 m)
2
F = 60795 N/m ×
4
.
= 10103.5 N

≈ 10 kN

We are also asked to convert this value to pound-force. We know the conversion rate to be:

4.45 N = 1 lb.f ,

and hence, we obtain the force as:

10103.5 N
F =
4.45 N/lb.f

3
≈ 2.3 × 10  lb.f

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