Converting PSI to pascals and atmospheres for pressure comparison

  • Level: High School 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Big Drop
  • Start date Start date
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
4 replies · 4K views
Big Drop
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Pascals - Atmospheres

I have a various numbers of psi's...and was told it would be interesting to convert it to pascals, and then compare the pascals and our atmosphere.

As in, 200 psi is 1.38e10^6 Pa. How could i show how much force that is. Or even say, its 'x' number of atmospheres. Just so i can get the pressure into perspective for readers...Thanks
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Pressure is just force / area, hence PSI is pounds / square inch, Pascal is 1N/m^2
An atmosphere is roughly 15psi or 100KPa.
To convert PSI to Pa you just need to know how many pounds in a Newton and how many sq inches in a square metre.
 
Ahhh yes. Must have missed these figures!

14.7psi = 1 atmosphere = 101,325 Pa

And its 6.894 757 kPa to 1 psi.

So if i were to write a sentance would something like this be correct?

"The pressure at combustion is 200psi. To show how high this pressure is, i converted it to Pascals, which is 1.38e10^6 Pa, and then converted Pa to atmospheres which is 13.6. This means that the pressure in the engine is over 13 times as strong as our atmosphere."

By the way, i know i don't have to convert to Pa, then to atm, but as i would show working, it would tick a box.

I am a bit wary of my last sentance, comparing the two. It doesn't sound good to me...i was trying to think of a better way to describe it really.Thank you very much for all your help!