Pressure varies with altitude; Pascal's principle
Variación de la presión con la altura y principio de Pascal
- Date
- 1648 · confidence high
- Place
- Puy de Dôme, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Credited to
- Blaise Pascal; Florin Périer
- People
- 👤 Blaise Pascal1623–1662👤 Florin Périer1605–1672
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
When the barometer is carried up the Puy de Dôme, the mercury column drops, confirming that air has weight and that pressure decreases with altitude; Pascal further states that pressure in a fluid is transmitted equally in all directions. It closes the debate over the vacuum.
The ascent was made by his brother-in-law Périer on 19 September 1648; the 'Treatise on the Equilibrium of Liquids' dates from 1653.
What it led to
- Hydraulics (hydraulic press)
- Fluid physics
- Altimetry and meteorology
- Acceptance of the vacuum
Built on
- Torricelli's barometer
- Correspondence with Mersenne
Made possible
- Hydraulic press1795
- Hypodermic syringe1853
- Brakes and hydraulic systems