Standard atmosphere (unit) explained

Atmosphere
Quantity:Pressure
Symbol:atm
Units1:SI units
Inunits1:1atm
Units2:US customary units
Inunits2:1sigfig=7NaNsigfig=7
Units3:other metric units
Inunits3:1sigfig=7NaNsigfig=7

The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as Pa. It is sometimes used as a reference pressure or standard pressure. It is approximately equal to Earth's average atmospheric pressure at sea level.[1]

History

The standard atmosphere was originally defined as the pressure exerted by a 760 mm column of mercury at 0abbr=NaNabbr= and standard gravity (gn =).[2] It was used as a reference condition for physical and chemical properties, and was implicit in the definition of the Celsius temperature scale, which defined 100abbr=NaNabbr= as the boiling point of water at this pressure. In 1954, the 10th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) adopted standard atmosphere for general use and affirmed its definition of being precisely equal to dynes per square centimetre .[3] This defined pressure in a way that is independent of the properties of any particular substance. In addition, the CGPM noted that there had been some misapprehension that the previous definition (from the 9th CGPM) "led some physicists to believe that this definition of the standard atmosphere was valid only for accurate work in thermometry."[3]

In chemistry and in various industries, the reference pressure referred to in standard temperature and pressure was commonly 101.325kPa prior to 1982, but standards have since diverged; in 1982, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry recommended that for the purposes of specifying the physical properties of substances, standard pressure should be precisely 100kPa.[4]

Pressure units and equivalencies

A pressure of 1 atm can also be stated as:

pascals (Pa)

bar

kgf/cm2

technical atmosphere

m H2O, 4 °C[5]

mmHg, 0 °C, subject to revision as more precise measurements of mercury's density become available[5]

torr (Torr)[6]

inHg, 0 °C, subject to revision as more precise measurements of mercury's density become available[7]

in H2O, 4 °C[5]

pounds-force per square inch (lbf/in2)

pounds-force per square foot (lbf/ft2)

= 1 ata (atmosphere absolute).

The ata unit is used in place of atm to indicate the total pressure of the system, compared to a vacuum.[8] For example, an underwater pressure of 3 ata would mean that this pressure includes 1 atm of air pressure and thus 2 atm due to the water.

Notes

  1. Web site: Water Pressures at Ocean Depths . 11 October 2022 . NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.
  2. Book: Resnick . Robert . Halliday . David . 1960 . Physics for Students of Science and Engineering Part 1 . New York . Wiley . 364 .
  3. Web site: BIPM - Resolution 4 of the 10th CGPM. www.bipm.org.
  4. IUPAC.org, Gold Book, Standard Pressure
  5. This is the customarily accepted value for cm–H2O, 4 °C. It is precisely the product of 1 kg-force per square centimeter (one technical atmosphere) times 1.013 25 (bar/atmosphere) divided by 0.980 665 (one gram-force). It is not accepted practice to define the value for water column based on a true physical realization of water (which would be 99.997 495% of this value because the true maximum density of Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water is 0.999 974 95 kg/L at 3.984 °C). Also, this "physical realization" would still ignore the 8.285 cm–H2O reduction that would actually occur in a true physical realization due to the vapor pressure over water at 3.984 °C.
  6. Torr and mm-Hg, 0°C are often taken to be identical. For most practical purposes (to 5 significant digits), they are interchangeable.
  7. [NIST]
  8. Web site: Scuba Diving & Other Fun Activities . The Difference Between An ATM & An ATA . March 2, 2008.

See also