What happens to pressure as the force exerted on a given area increases?
How does atmospheric pressure change as altitude increases?
2007-03-01 00:51:02 · 2 answers · asked by anarchygirl 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
pressure is force per area. so when force increases and area stays the same pressure increases. as you increase altitude, pressure decreases, because there is less atmosphere pressing down on the area. atmosphere has mass, so the force is due to gravity. as mass decreases(because there is less the higher you go) force necessarily decreases, therefore, pressure decreases. in all this i am assuming that area remains constant.
2007-03-01 00:56:32 · answer #1 · answered by metalluka 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As the force increases pressure also increases, it's effectively squashing the air into a smaller space. It's a bit like inflating a balloon, you're pushing air into the confined space of the balloon and so increasing the pressure.
As you gain altitude there's less air above to push down. This causes a decrease in pressure which in turn also leads to a decrease in temperature.
2007-03-01 09:01:13 · answer #2 · answered by Trevor 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋