The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the SI derived unit of pressure, internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus and ultimate tensile strength, defined as one newton per square metre. It is named after the French polymath Blaise Pascal.
Common multiple units of the pascal are the hectopascal (1 hPa ≡ 100 Pa) which is equal to 1 mbar, the kilopascal (1 kPa ≡ 1000 Pa), the megapascal (1 MPa ≡ 1,000,000 Pa), and the gigapascal (1 GPa ≡ 1,000,000,000 Pa).
On Earth, standard atmospheric pressure is defined as 101.325Â kPa. Meteorological reports typically state atmospheric pressure in hectopascals.
Etymology
The unit is named after Blaise Pascal, noted for his experiments with a barometer. The name pascal was adopted for the SI unit newton per square metre (N/m2) by the 14th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1971.
Definition
The pascal can be expressed using SI derived units, or alternatively solely SI base units, as:
Where N is the newton, m is the metre, kg is the kilogram and s is the second.
Miscellaneous
Standard atmospheric pressure is 101325Â Pa (101.325Â kPa).
This definition is used for pneumatic fluid power (ISO R554), and in the aerospace (ISO 2533) and petroleum (ISO 5024) industries.
In 1985 the IUPAC recommended that the standard for atmospheric pressure should be harmonized to 7005101325000000000â™ 101325Â Pa. The same definition is used in the compressor and the pneumatic tool industries (ISO 2787).
The Unicode computer character set has dedicated symbols ㎩ (U+33A9) for Pa and ㎪ (U+33AA) for kPa, but these exist merely for backward-compatibility with some older ideographic character-sets and are therefore deprecated.
Uses
The pascal (Pa) or kilopascal (kPa) as a unit of pressure measurement is widely used throughout the world and has largely replaced the pounds per square inch (psi) unit, except in some countries that still use the Imperial measurement system, including the United States.
Geophysicists use the gigapascal (GPa) in measuring or calculating tectonic stresses and pressures within the Earth.
Medical elastography measures tissue stiffness non-invasively with ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging, and often displays the Young's modulus or shear modulus of tissue in kilopascals.
In materials science and engineering, the pascal measures the stiffness, tensile strength and compressive strength of materials. In engineering use, because the pascal represents a very small quantity, the megapascal (MPa) is the preferred unit for these uses.
The pascal is also equivalent to the SI unit of energy density, J/m3. This applies not only to the thermodynamics of pressurized gases, but also to the energy density of electric, magnetic, and gravitational fields.
In measurements of sound pressure, or loudness of sound, one pascal is equal to 94 decibels SPL. The quietest sound a human can hear, known as the threshold of hearing, is 0 dB SPL, or 20 µPa.
The airtightness of buildings is measured at 50Â Pa.
Hectopascal and millibar units
The units of atmospheric pressure commonly used in meteorology were formerly the bar, which was close to the average air pressure on Earth, and the millibar. Since the introduction of SI units, meterologists generally measure pressures in hectopascals (hPa) unit, equal to 100 pascals or 1 millibar. Exceptions include Canada and Portugal, which uses kilopascals (kPa). It should be noted that in many other fields of science, the SI is prefered, which means Pa with a prefix (in multiples of 3) is prefered.
Many countries also use the millibar or hectopascal to give aviation altimeter settings. In practically all other fields, the kilopascal (1000 pascals) is used instead.
See also
- Centimetre of water
- Metric prefix
- Orders of magnitude (pressure)
- Pascal's law
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