Pressure

physics · forces · everyday science

A concentrated push. Pressure is how hard something pushes down on an area. When you stand on the ground, your weight spreads out over your feet, but a thumbtack pushes the same weight into a tiny point, creating huge pressure that can pierce skin.

The higher you go. The air pressure around you is strongest at sea level and gets weaker as you climb a mountain. This is why it feels harder to breathe at high altitudes, because there is less air pressure pushing oxygen into your lungs.

Deep ocean squeeze. Water pressure increases dramatically the deeper you go. Ocean creatures at the bottom live under crushing pressure thousands of times stronger than what we feel at the surface, and their bodies are specially built to handle it.

Pressure does work. Pressure powers many machines and tools we use every day, like hydraulic brakes in cars, pneumatic drills, and even your own muscle movements, which work by pushing fluids in your body.