Atmospheric pressure is the weight of gases surrounding the Earth. It is higher at sea level than mountains and acts perpendicularly in all directions. Houses and pressure cookers have mechanisms to balance the forces of pressure to prevent being squashed by the weight of surrounding air.

1. ATMOSPHERIC
PRESSURE

2. Have you ever dived deep into the water?
What can you feel in your ears?
It’s pressure!

3. Imagine that we all live
in an ocean of air…

4. Atmospheric
pressure is
the weight of
the gases at
any point in
the Earth.
1) Atmospheric
pressure at sea
level is higher
than at the
mountain.

5. 2) Atmospheric
pressure acts
perpendicularly
in all directions.

6. Why this house is not squashed by the pressure?
3) There is a balance between all the
forces.

7. Why pressure cookers have a mechanism to expel the
vapour caused by the pressure?