It might not seem like it, but air has weight. Anything with mass has weight, and we know air has mass because we can feel it when the wind blows. The total weight of the atmosphere exerts a pressure of about 14.7 pounds per square inch at sea level. What does all that air add up to? Would you believe the entire atmosphere weighs around 5 million billion tons? Yikes! How heavy is that? Some scientists estimate it's about the same weight as 570,000,000,000,000 adult Indian elephants! You're probably wondering how we keep from being crushed under all that weight. Luckily for us, all that weight is distributed evenly over Earth's surface, which you know is really big. Still, the average weight of air pressing on you, air pressure, is almost 15 pounds on each square inch of your body! If all that weight was just on top of your head, it might knock you to the ground. Instead, it presses evenly all around you…even from the inside. You breathe air into your lungs and it presses outward from your insides. The even distribution of all that air pressure keeps us from collapsing under the pressure. Air. It's all around us. And it's heavy.
8 Comments
Luke
2/22/2018 03:30:09 pm
Is that clay being squished? I can't tell
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Ben
2/22/2018 04:32:08 pm
Luke it’s not clay it’s a rubber ducky
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gandalf
2/22/2018 07:38:59 pm
i am so happy because china just made a world record and an Olympic record in the speed skating i am so happy yea. so which country are your cheering, guys. i think the first picture is cool. i think that grace would love the second picture because it is an elephant. Luke it is a rubber duck, poor duck. i am excited for tomorrow because we will have a test in Mr. Sheerer's class. Luke don't you dare start screaming sheerer because it is weird. oh and i think that the Olympics are going great.
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Moonicorn
2/22/2018 07:44:02 pm
Your excited far the test?!?!?!?
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Ivy / Moonicorn
2/22/2018 07:42:47 pm
Hi mrs Taylor am I still ok to be Moonicorn? I haven’t commented in a while so I wasn’t sure you’d remember. Errol got candy in class today and I was all like “ I need to comment I neeeeeed candy!” And then it it was haunting me for the rest of science...
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MaryGrace/Fred
2/22/2018 08:33:48 pm
Yeah Luke get it right (JKJK) I wasn't sure what is was! As Tyler would say,"Poor Chicky!!!" I really liked the blog Mrs. Taylor!!! It was really interesting!
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Sadie
2/22/2018 08:45:38 pm
Good job on the blog today Mrs. Taylor!!!
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Dancer
2/23/2018 07:39:28 am
Hi Mrs. Taylor.....hopefully you know who I am and what I am doing heehee.....I loooove the new candy that you got! It is amazing that there are so many good candies in there!
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |