Chemistry · Chapter 9

Reading Pressure: Barometers and Manometers

Move the gas pressure and the room pressure and watch the mercury answer. The same push appears in six units at once, so you can see how atm, torr, kPa and the rest line up.

The apparatus mercury moves as you slide

A mercury manometer joined to a flask of gas GAS open to the room vacuum above barometer

Slide the gas pressure and watch the mercury shift.

Convert any pressure

Every unit here is tied to the same anchor: 1 atm = 760 torr = 101.325 kPa = 1.01325 bar = 14.696 psi.

Which manometer?

760
torr of gas
EVEN

The same push, six ways

UnitGas pressure
atm
torr
mmHg
kPa
bar
psi

torr and mmHg are the same size, because one torr was defined as the push of a column of mercury one millimeter tall.