Determining Atmospheric Pressure Using a Water Barometer

The atmosphere is an envelope of compressible gases that surrounds Earth. Because of its compressibility and nonuniform heating by the Sun, it is in constant motion. The atmosphere exerts pressure on Earth's surface, but that pressure is in constant flux. This experiment allows students to directly measure atmospheric pressure by measuring the mass of the water that is used as the fluid medium in the barometer. Simple calculations based upon the mass of water collected from the barometer yield the mass of the atmosphere per square unit of area at the site where the experiment is conducted.