Pressure cooker at 1 atmosphere?

[adoion]

Hi,

I just read that the operating pressure of a standard pressure cooker is 15 psi or about 1 bar and they claim that water boils at 120C or 250F at this pressure.

But atmospheric pressure is 1 bar in Paris and almost 1 bar in most countries in the world, here is a link I found http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/boiling-point-water-d_926.html.

So please someone explain how a pressure cooker can boil its water at 120C with 1 bar of pressure and the atmosphere boils its at 100C with 1 bar of pressure. what's going on here guys?

 

[Bystander]

Google "gauge pressure."

 

[adoion]

All right so if it says 15 psi its actually 15 psi above atmosphere??

 

[Bystander]

Correct.

 

[adoion]

Ok thanks man, very helpful :)