An amazing fact which I learned today about pressure

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In summary: July 21, 1631, a team of horses pulling a wooden hemisphere across the moat of the city of Magdeburg crushed a man inside it, crushing his chest and spine. The man, a lawyer named Georg Balthasar Schönbein, died from his injuries a few days later. The pressure of the atmosphere was so great that his lungs and other organs were compressed by a factor of more than 10,000.
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sahilmm15
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Today, I was reading about the basics of atmospheric pressure. We all now it is the pressure exerted by the atmosphere on earth. It is quite high
i.e ##1.01 \cdot 10^5 Pa ##!. This force exerted by atmosphere is enough to easily crush us. But we do not get crushed because nearly same amount
of pressure is exerted out by our blood on body, so as a result the forces balances each other! This means if we suddenly land into space we would
explode like a bubble!
 
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sahilmm15 said:
This means if we suddenly land into space we would
explode like a bubble!
Atmospheric pressure is a surprisingly large number, yes, but losing it isn't as destructive as you think (fatal, yes, destructive, no). People and animals have survived exposure to hard vacuum. Your body isn't a thin skin wrapped round a gas bag, which would explode. Ruptured surface blood vessels in your eyes and mucus membranes and damage to your lungs and airways due to the rapid departure of air can happen, but your body is a more or less solid lump of meat. It doesn't explode.
 
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Yes it is amazing, it shows how living organisms adapt to their environment. As long as the environment is not very hostile and unfriendly hehe, for example I don't think living organisms could adapt in the "hell" of planet Venus or inside the spot of Jupiter.
 
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sahilmm15 said:
But we do not get crushed because nearly same amount
of pressure is exerted out by our blood on body, so as a result the forces balances each other!

It's not just our blood, but the liquid and gas in all of our cells, in between our cells, and in the larger spaces in our bodies.

sahilmm15 said:
This means if we suddenly land into space we would
explode like a bubble!

Not quite. At drop from one atmosphere of pressure to near zero is not actually that much. You would certainly swell up, but your skin and other tissues are strong enough not to explode. Your skin is also not very permeable, so all the liquid and gas in your body is contained inside except at your orifices. Oxygen and other gases will be pulled from the blood through the lungs, resulting in rapid loss of consciousness, the saliva in your mouth will boil off from the reduced pressure, and air bubbles and pockets called ebullisms (not to be confused with embolisms) may form, but you won't explode.

See the following wiki pages:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_human_body#Space_environments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontrolled_decompression

The rapid decompression of divers from several atmospheres of pressure back to one atmosphere is MUCH more dangerous and is practically always lethal. One such incident involved an explosive decompression of a diving bell from 9 atmospheres back down to 1, killing 4 divers in the process. While there was severe internal damage, not even this change of 8 atmospheres caused the divers bodies to explode (although one was dismembered from being forced through the small opening of the door).
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byford_Dolphin#Diving_bell_accident
 
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1. What is pressure?

Pressure is defined as the force per unit area exerted on an object. It is typically measured in units of Pascals (Pa) or pounds per square inch (psi).

2. How is pressure created?

Pressure is created when a force is applied to an area. This force can come from various sources such as gravity, compression, or collisions.

3. What are some examples of high pressure?

Some examples of high pressure include the pressure at the bottom of the ocean, the pressure inside a pressurized cabin of an airplane, and the pressure inside a car tire.

4. How does pressure affect gases?

Pressure has a direct relationship with gases - as pressure increases, the volume of the gas decreases. This is known as Boyle's Law. Additionally, increasing the pressure of a gas can also increase its temperature, known as the ideal gas law.

5. How does pressure affect liquids?

Unlike gases, liquids are not easily compressible, so pressure does not significantly affect their volume. However, pressure does play a role in determining the density and buoyancy of liquids, as well as their ability to flow and exert force on objects.

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