noun
atmosphere
A unit of pressure equal to standard air pressure at sea level.
The gauge shows a pressure of two atmospheres inside the chamber.
Etymology
Greek atmos and sphaira describe a sphere of vapor, the gaseous envelope around Earth. The pressure unit takes its name from the standard pressure exerted by that surrounding air.
More examples
- Standard sea-level pressure is one atmosphere.
- The experiment compared results at one and three atmospheres.
- She converted the pressure from atmospheres to pascals.
Forms
atmosphere · atmospheres
Similar words
- pascal
- Is a much smaller pressure unit defined by force per area.
- bar
- Is close to one atmosphere but slightly smaller.