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You are here: Home / Odds / How did meteorologists first measure the weight of the earth’s atmosphere?

How did meteorologists first measure the weight of the earth’s atmosphere?

May 26, 2020 by Karen Hill

What would the weather forecast be without a map of highs and lows? How could the weatherman guarantee us a sunny weekend or predict a blizzard if it weren’t for the barometer?

This instrument is undoubtedly one of the meteorologist’s most useful tools, but there’s nothing magical or complex about it, its precursor was invented over 300 years ago.

In 1644 a protégé of Galileo’s, Evangelista Torricelli, filled a glass tube with mercury and submerged one end in a basin of mercury, while keeping his finger over the other end. When he removed his finger, some of the mercury remained suspended in the tube rather than sinking to the bottom and slipping into the basin.

The reason, according to Torricelli, was that “on the surface of the liquid in the basin presses a height of 50 miles of air.” Atmospheric pressure was, in fact, keeping the mercury suspended in the tube and Torricelli watched its level change with different weather conditions.

“We live,” remarked the inventor in a reflective mood, “submerged at the bottom of an ocean of elementary air.”

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  • Does the Moon Have an Atmosphere and Is the Moon's Atmosphere Similar To Earth's Atmosphere?
  • How Did the Earth's Atmosphere Form and When Did Oxygen First Form In the Earth's Atmosphere?
  • How do meteorologists measure the speed at which a hurricane is traveling?
  • Why Does Earth Have an Atmosphere and What Are the Different Layers of the Atmosphere Called?
  • Who Discovered Air Pressure and that the Atmosphere has weight and presses down on us?

Filed Under: Odds

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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