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Hydrostatics

Boyle's law


Any diver can confirm that the pressure experienced at ten metres below the surface of a lake is substantially larger than the pressure experienced at five metres below the surface. Actually, at ten metres below the surface of a lake each square centimetre of our body experiences a pressure equivalent to the weight of a column of 10 m water above that square centimetre, in addition to the one atmosphere air pressure. It totals in to about two atmosphere of pressure.

The video shows that when the pressure on the ball increases, the air in the interior of the ball takes a smaller volume (Boyle's law). It becomes then easier to move the plastic surface of the ball because there is more plastic material then what is necessary for the interior air.

Notice that any object submerged in the fluid experiences pressure since the molecules also impact on the object.

The pressure of air on our bodies is equivalent to the weight of 10 m of water. That is a pressure of about 105 Pa or 1 atmosphere.

Let us suppose that your hand, when stretched, has an area of 150 cm2. So, when you stretch your hand, it does not matter how it is oriented, then it experiences a weight of about 1500 N, which is equivalent to 150 kg, on the palm of your hand. The reason that you do not notice it, is because the pressure acts on both sides of your hand. The resulting forces are equal and opposite. Hence, the net effect is zero.

Actually, the latter statement is not completely correct.
When you hold your stretched hand horizontally, then it experiences slightly more pressure on the bottom side than on the top side of your hand. Let us assume that your hand is 1 cm thick, then the difference is about 0.0015 N, corresponding to 0.15 g. So, you experience a net upward force of that size. You do not notice it, because the weight of your hand is about one thousand times larger.
However, a light hot air balloon of some ten metres high, experiences a pressure difference which is enough for an upward force of some 5000 N.


isothermal-barotropic approximation