How much does air weigh?

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How much does air weigh?

It might not seem like it, but air has weight. In fact, anything that has mass, also has weight. The fact that you can feel the wind blow against you means air has mass. At sea level, the total weight of the atmosphere exerts a pressure of about 14.7 pounds per square inch. You don't notice this weight, however, because you are used to it. If you live in Denver, Colorado, which is at an elevation of about 5,000 feet, then about 15% of the mass of the atmosphere is below you, resulting in an air pressure of about 12.5 pounds per square inch. At the top of Mount Everest (over 29,000 feet), 70% of the atmosphere lies below, leaving an air pressure of only 4.4 pounds per square inch.

Interesting facts:

THATS HEAVY: The atmosphere of Venus is about 90 times heavier than that on Earth.

and NOW at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble ...some things your teacher probably never told you about... (See book covers, and first page of each chapter.) more by Roy Spencer: Global Warming and Nature's Thermostat


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