Talk:Water pressure

The following was deleted from barometer and suggested for inclusion here:

One inch of mercury is approximately equal to 1.133 feet of water, in terms of pressure or pressure difference.

1 atmosphere (14.7 PSI) is approximately 33.90 feet of water (approx. 10.333 meters of water). Thus when dumping water on someone from a height of 10 meters (or, equivalently, when someone enters a pool from a 10-meter platform as is commonly found in olympic swimming baths), the potential energy is approximately one half to one quarter that of typical city water pressure. At this height of water, the person and water collide at slightly more than 50km/hour (slightly more than 30 miles per hour), as potential energy is converted to kinetic energy. Thus many swimmers wear ear plugs to avoid barotrauma from water pressure in the 10-meter range. In some sense, the human ear responds to pressure (with sometimes adverse effects). Systems such as the ear, microphones, loudspeakers, and the like, can be damaged by excessive barometric pressure increase (excessive head of water, for example).

--Yannick 19:15, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)