Ch. 1 Sec.

2 –Air Pressure – Notes

Properties of Air
Air consists of atoms and molecules which have mass, therefore air has mass.
Because air has mass, it also has other properties including density and pressure.

Density is the amount of mass in a given volume.

Density = Mass ,
Volume

Pressure = The amount of force pushing on an area.

Air Pressure = the pressure caused by the weight of a column of air pushing down on an area.
-the atmosphere is heavy so why doesn’t it crush you?
-gas pushes in all directions not just downward like solids
-Air pressure can change from day to day…denser air has more mass so therefore exerts
more pressure

Measuring Air Pressure

 A barometer is an instrument used to measure changes in air pressure.
 A Mercury Barometer is an instrument that measures changes in air pressure,
consisting of a glass tube partially filled with mercury, with its open end
resting in a dish of mercury.

 An Aneroid Barometer has an airtight metal chamber,

Units of Air Pressure

 Most weather reports for the general public use inches of mercury.
 National Weather Service maps indicate air pressure in millibars.
- One inch of mercury is approximately 33.87 millibars, so 30 inches of
mercury is approximately equal to 1,016 millibars.
Altitude and the Properties of Air
 Altitude is elevation above sea level.
 Air pressure decreases as altitude increases.

 As air pressure decreases, so does density.