The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is an international reference pressure defined as 101325 Pa and formerly used as unit of pressure.[1] For practical purposes it has been replaced by the bar which is 105 Pa.[1] The difference of about 1% is not significant for many applications, and is within the error range of common pressure gauges.
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In 1954 the 10th Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures (CGPM) adopted standard atmosphere for general use and affirmed its definition of being precisely equal to 1,013,250 dynes per square centimeter (101 325 Pa).[2] This value was intended to represent the mean atmospheric pressure at mean sea level at the latitude of Paris, France, and as a practical matter, truly reflects the mean sea level pressure for many of the industrialized nations (those with latitudes similar to Paris).
In chemistry, the original definition of “Standard Temperature and Pressure” (STP) was a reference temperature of 0 °C (273.15 K) and pressure of 101.325 kPa (1 atm). However, in 1982, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) recommended that for the purposes of specifying the physical properties of substances, “the standard pressure” should be defined as precisely 100 kPa (exactly 1 bar).[3]
pascal | bar | technical atmosphere | standard atmosphere | torr | pound per square inch | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pa | bar | at | atm | Torr | psi | |
1 Pa | ≡ 1 N/m2 | 10−5 | 1.0197×10−5 | 9.8692×10−6 | 7.5006×10−3 | 145.04×10−6 |
1 bar | 105 | ≡ 106 dyn/cm2 | 1.0197 | 0.98692 | 750.06 | 14.5037744 |
1 at | 0.980665 ×105 | 0.980665 | ≡ 1 kp/cm2 | 0.96784 | 735.56 | 14.223 |
1 atm | 1.01325 ×105 | 1.01325 | 1.0332 | ≡ p0 | 760 | 14.696 |
1 Torr | 133.322 | 1.3332×10−3 | 1.3595×10−3 | 1.3158×10−3 | = 1 mmHg | 19.337×10−3 |
1 psi | 6.895×103 | 68.948×10−3 | 70.307×10−3 | 68.046×10−3 | 51.715 | ≡ 1 lbF/in2 |
A pressure of 1 atm can also be stated as:
Scuba divers and others use the word atmosphere and "atm" in relation to pressures that are relative to mean atmospheric pressure at sea level (1.013 bar). For example, a partial pressure of oxygen is calibrated typically using air at sea level, so is expressed in units of atm.
The old European unit technical atmosphere (at) is roughly equal to the gauge pressure under 10 m of water; 1 at = 98066.5 Pa.