Standard atmosphere (unit)

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Atmosphere

Unit of Pressure

Symbol atm 

Conversions

1 atm in ... ... is equal to ...

   SI units    101.325 kPa

   US customary units    14.69595 psi

The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined

as 101325 Pa (1.01325 bar). It is sometimes used as a reference or standard pressure. It is
approximately equal to Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level.

Contents

 1History
 2Pressure units and equivalencies
 3Notes
 4See also
 5References

History[edit]
It was originally defined as the pressure exerted by 760 mm of mercury at 0 °C and standard
gravity (gn = 9.80665 m/s2).[1] It was used as a reference condition for physical and chemical
properties, and was implicit in the definition of the centigrade (later Celsius) scale of
temperature by defining 100 °C as being the boiling point of water at this pressure. In 1954, the
10th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) adopted standard atmosphere for
general use and affirmed its definition of being precisely equal to 1013250 dynes per square
centimetre (101325 Pa).[2] This defined both temperature and pressure independent of the
properties of particular substance. In addition (the CGPM noted) there had been some
misapprehension that it "led some physicists to believe that this definition of the standard
atmosphere was valid only for accurate work in thermometry."[2]
In chemistry and in various industries, the reference pressure referred to in "standard
temperature and pressure" (STP) was commonly 1 atm (101.325 kPa) but standards have since
diverged; in 1982, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
recommended that for the purposes of specifying the physical properties of substances,
"standard pressure" should be precisely 100 kPa (1 bar).[3]

Pressure units and equivalencies[edit]

Pressure units

Technical Standard Pound per

Pascal Bar Torr
 v atmosphere atmosphere square inch
 t
 e
(Pa) (bar) (at) (atm) (Torr) (lbf/in2)

0.000 145
1 Pa ≡ 1 N/m2 10−5 1.0197×10−5 9.8692×10−6 7.5006×10−3
037 737 730

≡ 100 kPa 14.503 773

1 bar 105 1.0197 0.98692 750.06
≡ 106 dyn/cm2 773 022

0.967 841 105 735.559 240 14.223 343

1 at 98066.5 0.980665 ≡ 1 kgf/cm2
354 1 1 307 120 3

14.695 948
1 atm ≡ 101325 ≡ 1.01325 1.0332 1 760
775 514 2

133.322 0.001 333 1/760  ≈ 0.001 1 Torr 0.019 336

1 Torr 0.001 359 51
368 421 224 315 789 ≈ 1 mmHg 775

6894.757 0.068 947 51.714 932

1 lbf/in2 0.070 306 958 0.068 045 964 ≡ 1 lbf/in2
293 168 573 572

A pressure of 1 atm can also be stated as: