Tuesday, January 17, 2017

experimental physics - Why the pressure of atmosphere doesn't crush you when you e.g. walk outside?


Why the pressure of atmosphere doesn't crush you when you e.g. walk outside? I mean the density of air is $1.26 kg/m^3$, so with $100 km$ above us, it exerts much pressure on you when you walk outside.



Answer



If you were a completely empty shell you'd likely be crushed immediately on finding yourself in the earth's atmosphere. But you are filled with stuff (blood, flesh, bones) which is also at approximately atmospheric pressure. If you consider a point on your skin, the pressure of the air on the outside pushing it in is exactly matched by the pressure of the contents of your body pushing it out. So the net force is zero.


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