Science · 6 pages · 12 min
Why air pressure falls as you climb
Higher up, less air remains overhead, so its weight on you is smaller.
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From the opening
Air pressure falls as you climb because pressure at any height is the weight of the air still above that height, spread over area. Climb, and there is less air overhead, so there is less weight pressing down. The opening covers pressure as the weight overhead, why the air is denser below, and ears, bags, and boiling water.
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Inside
- Pressure as the weight overhead
- Why the air is denser below
- Ears, bags, and boiling water
- Weather changes at one height
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Hydrostatic pressure in the atmosphere
- Pascal's Puy de Dôme barometer experiment