Calculation of pressure

Pressure

What is pressure from a physics perspective? How can you calculate it in a simple way?
In meteorology, different units for pressure are used.
Through an illustration and some conversions, things will become clearer. The goal is for you to be able to calculate pressure.

What is pressure?

A solid, but also a gas or liquid, can exert pressure on a surface.
Think of the walls of a container. In the sea, the pressure increases as you dive deeper.
The pressure exerted on you gets higher the further you go under water.

How do you calculate pressure?

Pressure is calculated with the following formula: p = F/A
The unit for pressure is represented by p.
The p is written in lowercase. This p comes from the word "pression" in French or "pressure" in English.

• F stands for force. This is measured in newtons (N).
• A stands for area. Be careful: in square meters or m².
• So, pressure p = F/A.

This gives you the force per unit of area. When you calculate pressure this way, the result will be in pascal (Pa).

• So, 1 pascal (Pa) is 1 newton per square meter or m².
• Note: 1 pascal is not much.

That's why people often work with kPa.
The k stands for kilo, meaning 1000.

• So, 1 kPa is 1000 newtons per square meter.