300 years ago, Otto von Guericke arranged a demonstration in Magdeburg, Germany to demonstrate the air pump which he had invented. He made two hemispherical iron vessels which could be put together to form an airtight enclosure. After pumping air out with
Models for the charge buildup which leads to lightning discharges suggest a buildup of a strong negative charge layer near the bottom of the cloud and the formation of a positive ground shadow. When the buildup is large enough to produce ionization of the
Information about factors affecting atmospheric pressure
Description:
From the companion Web site to several recent NOVA programs on Mt. Everest, including "Lost on Everest" and "Everest: The Death Zone," originally broadcast in 1998. This page looks at atmospheric pressure at high altitudes.
The fundamental SI unit of pressure is the Pascal (Pa), but it is a small unit so kPa is the most common direct pressure unit for atmospheric pressure. 1 mm Hg is an old unit of pressure corresponding to the weight per unit area of a column of mercury (Hg
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