Pressure

The amount of force exerted (thrust) on a surface per unit area is defined as ‘Pressure’. It can also be defined as
the ratio of the force to the area (over which the force is acting).

Formula and Unit of Pressure

Pressure (P) = Thrust/ Area

The SI unit is ‘pascals (Pa)’. 1 Pa = 1N/m2

Types of Pressure
 Atmospheric Pressure
 Gauge Pressure
 Absolute Pressure
 Vacuum Pressure
Atmospheric Pressure
Atmospheric pressure is defined as the force per unit area exerted against a surface by the weight of the air
above that surface. In the diagram below, the pressure at point "X" increases as the weight of the air above it
increases. The same can be said about decreasing pressure, where the pressure at point "X" decreases if the
weight of the air above it also decreases.

Atmospheric pressure is measured with an instrument called a "barometer", which is why atmospheric
pressure is also referred to as barometric pressure.

Meteorologists use a metric unit for pressure called a millibar and the average pressure at sea level is
1013.25 millibars.

Gauge Pressure
A gauge is often used to measure the pressure difference between a system and the surrounding atmosphere.
This pressure is the gauge pressure and can be expressed as:

pg = ps – patm
Where
pg = gauge pressure
ps = system pressure
patm = atmospheric pressure
Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to atmospheric pressure. Therefore, it is positive for pressures above
atmospheric pressure, and negative for pressures below it.
Absolute Pressure
When any pressure is detected above the absolute zero of pressure, it is labelled as absolute pressure. It is
measured using a barometer, and it is equal to measuring pressure plus the atmospheric pressure.

Absolute pressure formula (pabs) is given by,

pabs=patm+pgauge
Where
pgauge is the gauge pressure.
patm is atmospheric pressure.

Vacuum Pressure
Pressures below atmospheric pressure are called vacuum pressures.

Vaccume pressure formula (pvac) is given by,

pvac = patm − pabs

Where
pabs is the absolute pressure.
patm is atmospheric pressure.