8.

1 Pressure
What is pressure?
It can be very difficult to walk
Objectives across mud or sand without getting
■ Explain the difference between stuck. Earthmovers use wide
weight and pressure tracks instead of ordinary tyres so
■ Be able to calculate pressure that they can move across the mud
more easily.
The earthmover is very heavy. It
has a weight of about a million
newtons, equal to about 15 000 people! A single person standing on the same
muddy ground might sink. But the earthmover does not sink because its
weight is spread out over a bigger area.
Pressure is a measure of how much force is applied over a certain area. We say
that the earthmover produces a smaller pressure on the mud than the person.

How to calculate pressure

You can calculate pressure using this equation:
force
Pressure =
area
Force is measured in newtons (N) and area is measured in metres squared (m2),
so pressure is measured in newtons per metre squared (N/m2). 1 N/m2 is also
called 1 pascal (Pa).
Sometimes it is easier to measure smaller areas in centimetres squared, cm2.
If you measure the area in cm2 and the force in N, then the pressure is measured
in N/cm2.

A force of 100 N is spread over an area of 2 m2. A force of 20 N is spread over an area of 4 cm2.
What is the pressure? What is the pressure?
force force
Pressure = Pressure =
area area
100 N 20 N
= =
2 m2 4 cm2
= 50 N/m2 = 5 N/cm2

When you do calculations it is very important to look at the units of

area. If you write them next to the number in your equation, then you
will see which unit of pressure you need to use.

Large and small pressure

Sometimes it is useful to make the pressure bigger.

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 Forces and motion
The studs on a football boot have a small area compared with the area of the
foot. This produces a bigger pressure, so that the studs sink into the ground
and help the footballer to grip the ground and move more easily.

The weight of a footballer is 800 N.

The area of his two feet is 200 cm2. The total area of the studs is 20 cm2.
force force
Pressure = Pressure =
area area
800 N 800 N
= =
200 cm2 20 cm2
= 4 N/cm2 = 40 N/cm2

The same force over a smaller area produces a much bigger pressure.
At other times it is useful to make the pressure smaller.

The weight of the earthmover is 1 000 000 N.

The total area of four normal tyres is 2 m2. The total area of the earthmover tracks is 25 m2.
force force
Pressure = Pressure =
area area
1 000 000 N 1 000 000 N
= =
2 m2 25 m2
= 500 000 N/m2 = 40 000 N/m2

The same force over a bigger area produces a much smaller pressure.
A pressure of 40 000 N/m2 is the same as a pressure of 4 N/cm2, much
smaller than the studs.
You can use the equation for pressure to calculate the force or the area.
force force
Pressure = Force = pressure × area Area =
area pressure

1 Copy and complete this table. force

Force Area Pressure ● Pressure =
Don’t forget the units! area
150 N 25 cm2 ● Pressure is measured in N/m2
2 A pressure of 0.01 N/cm2 is produced
60 N 15 m2 or N/cm2.
when a book with an area of 300 cm2 is
5N 0.1 cm2 ● 1 N/m2 is the same as 1 Pa
placed on a table. What is the weight of
the book? (pascal)

3 A brick has a weight of 15 N. If the pressure it produces ● A small force over a big area
is 0.5 N/cm2 what is the area in contact with the ground? produces a small pressure.

4 A hippopotamus produces a pressure of 250 000 Pa when it is ● A big force over a small area
standing on all four feet. If the weight of the hippopotamus is produces a big pressure.
40 000 N, what is the area of each foot?

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 8.2 The effects of pressure
Scissors, knives, and tools
The blades of knives and scissors are
Objective sharp. They have a very small area so
■ Apply ideas of pressure to a the force that you apply produces a big
range of situations pressure.
If the blade becomes blunt then the
area gets bigger. Now the pressure
might not be big enough to cut things.
It is important to keep knives and
scissors sharp.
You can use a hammer to hammer a
nail into a piece of wood. The end of
the nail is pointed, so it has a very
small area. The pressure produced on
the wood when you hit the nail with
the hammer will be very large.
Lots of tools have sharp edges so
that they can cut or make holes in
things easily.

Walking on mud
Some animals need to travel across
mud, sand, or other soft surfaces.
Wading birds have wide flat feet to
reduce the pressure on the ground.
This means that they do not sink so
much when they have to walk over a
soft surface.

Sandy feet
It is much easier for camels to walk across sand than it is for horses to walk
across sand. The area of a camel’s foot is much larger than the area of a
horse’s hoof.

The weight of a camel is 5000 N. The weight of a horse is 4000 N.

The area of its four hooves is 2000 cm .
2
The area of its four hooves is 400 cm2.
force force
Pressure = Pressure =
area area
5000 N 4000 N
= =
2000 cm2 400 cm2
= 2.5 N/cm2 = 10 N/cm2

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 Forces and motion
Even though a horse has a smaller weight than a camel, the
pressure that it produces on the ground is four times bigger
because the area of its hooves is smaller.

Quicksand
Some people are worried that they could be caught in
quicksand. Quicksand does not pull you in, but it is
difficult to walk across it. Why can you walk across sand
but not across quicksand?
Quicksand is a mixture of sand and water found close to
beaches, swamps, and marshes, but not usually found in
the desert. It appears to be solid, but if you stand on it
the pressure that you produce on it means that you will
sink into it. This is because the water reduces the friction
between the grains of sand so your weight can push the
sand grains out of the way, much more easily than with
dry sand. For someone who strays into quicksand, if they
lie down and do not struggle they should be able to float!
Wet sand near the edge of the sea contains less water than
quicksand. It is more like a solid. If you walk on wet sand
the pressure that you produce forces the water out of the
gaps between the grains of sand. There is more friction
between the grains so it feels like you are walking on
solid ground.

Pressure and bikes

Some bikes are designed to travel across mud and others
are designed to be used on the road. The tyres of road
bikes are much narrower than those of an off-road bike.

1 Explain why the feet of camels and wading birds have the shapes that they have. ● Increasing the area reduces
2 Two birds have the same mass but one has much bigger feet. How would the pressure the pressure, which can be
that they produce on the ground be different? useful in some situations.

3 What would happen if you tried using a road bike to ride across a soft surface?
● Reducing the area can be
Explain your answer. useful if you need a large
pressure.
4 Two horses have hooves of about the same area. Horse A has a much bigger mass
than horse B. How would the pressure that they produce on the ground be different?

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 8.3 Pressure in liquids
Liquid pressure
If you go swimming you can feel the pressure of the water. Your ears detect
Objectives liquid pressure. It doesn’t matter how you move your head underwater you still
■ Explain what is meant by detect the same pressure.
liquid pressure Pressure in liquids and
■ Describe what determines gases is different from the
the pressure in a liquid pressure produced when one
solid is on top of another.
Liquid pressure is due to the
forces between the liquid
particles and the surfaces of
a container, like the walls of a
swimming pool.
The particles in a liquid are
very close together so liquids
cannot be compressed. We
say that they are incompressible.
Isha fills a syringe full of water. He holds one finger over the hole so the water
cannot get out. Then he presses down on the plunger of the syringe. Nothing
happens! It is not possible to force the liquid into a smaller space.
If you apply a force to a liquid the forces between the particles increases,
and the forces act in all directions. This means that liquid pressure acts in all
directions.
You can demonstrate that the pressure in a liquid acts in all directions. In the bag,
the water comes straight out of each hole and then
falls because of gravity. The liquid pressure pushes
the water out of the holes – it doesn’t act just
downwards like gravity does.
It is liquid pressure that produces upthrust, the
force that keeps things afloat.

Liquid pressure
and depth
low pressure thin
wall The pressure on a fish at the
bottom of a lake is bigger than
the pressure on a fish half-way
down. At the bottom of a lake
there is twice the weight of water
thick wall
high pressure pushing down compared with
half-way down. The pressure gets
bigger as you go down.

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 Forces and motion
This is why the concrete at the
bottom of a dam wall has to be many
times thicker than the concrete at
the top – because the pressure at the
bottom is much, much bigger.

Pressure and diving

Fish that live very deep in the ocean
can withstand very big pressures.
When people go deep underwater
they use diving vessels or submarines
with very strong walls to withstand
the pressure.
Divers need to understand about water pressure. They have to be careful how
long they spend in very deep water because the nitrogen from the air that they
are breathing dissolves in their blood. If they return to the surface quickly, this
nitrogen forms bubbles as the pressure is reduced. The same thing happens
when you open a can of carbonated drink. Lots of carbon dioxide bubbles
form as the pressure is reduced.
Bubbles of nitrogen in a diver’s blood are very dangerous and can cause great
pain. The condition is called ‘the bends’. Deep-sea divers must return to the
surface very slowly to stop the bubbles forming.
needle coiled metal tube
Measuring pressure
The pressure in a liquid or gas is measured with a pressure gauge. This contains
a tube that is curled up. The tube straightens out as the pressure inside the tube
increases. This moves a needle to show a reading on a scale.

pressure being measured

1 What produces pressure in a liquid? ● There is pressure in a liquid

2 Why is the pressure at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean much because of the forces
bigger than near the surface? between particles in the
liquid acting over an area.
3 A student fills a plastic bottle full of water. He make a hole
in the bottle half-way up, and another hole at the bottom.
● As you go deeper the
pressure gets bigger because
a Does the water come faster out of the hole in the middle
there is more weight of water
or the hole at the bottom? Explain your answer
above you.
b The water comes out at right angles to the surface of the ● You can measure liquid
bottle. Why?
pressure with a pressure
c As the water drains out what happens to the speed of gauge.
the water leaving both holes? Why?

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 8.4 Using pressure in liquids
How do hydraulic machines work?
Hydraulic machines use liquids to produce very large forces. A hydraulic
Objectives jack is used to lift up a car so the mechanic can repair it.
■ Explain how hydraulic In a gas there is lots of space between the particles, so you can compress a gas.
machines work Hydraulic machines work because unlike a gas, you cannot squash a liquid –
■ Describe some uses of liquids are incompressible. The particles in a
hydraulic machines liquid are effectively touching each other, so B

liquids pass on any pressure applied to them.

A
The two syringes connected together show how
a hydraulic jack works. What will happen if you
push down on plunger A? Plunger B will move up.
The force that you apply when you push down
on A produces pressure in the liquid. This
pressure is passed through the liquid to B.
It produces a force which pushes B up.

Increasing the force

A hydraulic machine can be used to increase the size of the force.

small force

large piston B
piston B
B moves area = 400 cm2
A moves small distance
large distance
large force piston A
small piston A area = 20 cm2

liquid
10 N

The left-hand diagram shows how a hydraulic jack works. Two metal pistons
are connected by a tube of liquid. The pistons can move in and out of the
cylinders like the plunger in a syringe. When the mechanic applies a force to
piston A, piston B will go up. The jack allows the mechanic to lift the car.
If you push down with a force of 10 N on piston A, as shown in the right-hand
diagram, then a pressure is produced in the liquid that is passed through the
liquid to piston B.
force
Pressure =
area
10 N
=
20 cm2
= 0.5 N/cm2

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 Forces and motion
The liquid transmits this same pressure to piston B. What is the
force at B?
Force = pressure × area
= 0.5 N/cm2 × 400 cm2
= 200 N
The force has increased from 10 N at A to 200 N at B.
Because B has a bigger area, the force that is produced at B
is bigger. Piston B is 20 times bigger so the force is
20 times bigger.
A hydraulic jack is called a force multiplier – the force at A
has been multiplied. You might think that you are getting a
bigger force for nothing, but this is not the case. A hydraulic
jack will produce a bigger force, but the larger piston will
move a much smaller distance than the smaller piston. You
can have a bigger force but it will not move the piston as far.
In a real pump, the mechanic has to pump more oil in to lift
the car.

Hydraulic brakes
Most cars use hydraulic brakes. It would be impossible for
the driver to produce a force big enough to stop the car. So the
hydraulic braking system makes the driver’s force bigger.
It is very important for the braking system to work properly.
If air gets into the brake fluid, the brakes will not work
properly.

Hydraulic press
A machine called a hydraulic press can produce a force
big enough to shape a sheet of metal to make a car door.
Hydraulic presses are also used to crush cars.

Hydraulic machines multiply our force to do jobs that

we could not do on our own.

1 Explain how a hydraulic jack can be used to lift a car. ● Hydraulic machines
use liquids, which are
2 Why are hydraulic brakes less effective if there is air in the liquid?
incompressible.
3 Copy and complete the table below for a simple hydraulic machine.
● Hydraulic machines make
Area of piston A Force applied Pressure in Area of Force produced forces bigger.
to piston A the liquid piston B by piston B ● Hydraulics are used in brakes,
2 cm2 8N 25 cm2 for crushing cars, and for
5 cm2 20 N 20 cm2 making cars.
0.01 m2 6N 0.1 cm2

4 A student pushes down with a force of 2 N on the plunger of syringe A. Syringe B

has a plunger with an area that is 3 times the area of plunger A. What is the force
produced by plunger B?

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 8.5 Pressure in gases
Gas pressure

Objectives
■ Explain what is meant by gas
pressure
■ Explain the link between
pressure and volume

Raj blows up a balloon. The balloon gets bigger and bigger. Suddenly it bursts!
Why does this happen?
Raj pumps more air particles into the balloon. They bump into each other
and into the rubber of the balloon and push the balloon outwards. The
collisions produce gas pressure. By pumping more air into the balloon, Raj
increases the pressure inside it.
Air particles hit the outside of the balloon too, but as the pressure inside
increases there are more collisions on the inside than on the outside. When
the gas pressure inside is really big, the balloon bursts.
A bicycle tyre does not keep on
expanding like a balloon does.
Pumping up a bicycle tyre increases
the gas pressure inside the tyre.
In a gas there are big gaps between
the particles. As you pump more
and more gas into a closed space
like a tyre, the particles are
pushed closer together – the gas
becomes compressed. There are
more particles so there are more
collisions, producing a bigger
pressure.

What is the link between

pressure and volume?
Both these boxes contain the
same number of gas particles.
If box X has half the volume of
box Y, there will be twice as many collisions between the gas particles
and the walls of box X. This means that the pressure in X will be
double the pressure in Y.
As the volume goes down, the pressure goes up. The opposite is also true.
X Y If the volume increases, then the pressure will decrease.

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 Forces and motion

Relationships
We use the words ‘directly proportional’ to
describe the relationship between two things
that increase together or decrease together
in a regular way. For example, when you put

extension (cm)

volume (cm3)
weights on a spring, if you double the force
then the extension will double. The extension
is directly proportional to the force.
With gases, the pressure and volume are
inversely proportional. As one quantity
goes up, the other goes down. If you force (N) pressure (N/m2)
double the volume of a gas, the pressure If we plot a graph of two quantities If we plot a graph of two quantities
will halve. If you halve the volume of a gas, that are directly proportional, the that are inversely proportional, the
the pressure will double. graph is a straight line through (0,0). graph is a curved line.

Atmospheric pressure
The air around us exerts gas pressure on our bodies all the time. This
is called atmospheric pressure. We do not feel the pressure because
it is balanced by the pressure of the gases and liquids in our bodies
pushing outwards.
The atmospheric pressure at sea level is bigger than the
atmospheric pressure high up a mountain. Gravity pulls the air
particles towards the Earth. The air near the Earth’s surface is
compressed, so the air near the surface of the Earth. If the particles
are closer together, then the pressure is bigger. This means that
there will be more collisions producing a bigger force and a bigger
pressure.
Some mountain climbers carry oxygen tanks when they climb high
mountains such as Mount Everest. There is less oxygen high up.
The tanks contain oxygen gas that has been compressed into a small
volume. The gas has to be compressed because otherwise it would
not be possible for a climber to carry the number of containers of
oxygen that he would need. The pressure inside the oxygen tank
is very high. The tanks are made of metal which can withstand
the high pressures. People who do not take oxygen can experience
altitude sickness and nosebleeds.

1 What causes gas pressure? ● Gas pressure is caused by

2 Why can you compress a gas but you cannot compress a liquid? particles colliding with the
walls of the container.
3 Why does the pressure inside a bicycle tyre increase as you pump it up?
● If you compress a gas into a
4 Aircraft cabins are ‘pressurised’. Air is gradually pumped into the aircraft as it climbs,
smaller volume, the pressure
and then let out again when it lands. Why?
will be bigger.
5 Extension: what would happen to the pressure in a gas if you compressed it into a
volume that was one-third the size? Why?

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 Extension

8.6 Pressure, volume, and

temperature in gases
Objectives Which tyres?
■ Explain the link between
pressure and temperature
■ Apply ideas about pressure
and temperature to everyday
situations

In Formula 1 racing, the choice of tyres is extremely important. The teams have to
work out which type of tyre to use for different weather conditions.
It is also important to keep the tyres at the right temperature. Sometimes the
mechanics use tyre warmers to keep them warm ready for a race.

Pressure in tyres
The pressure inside a tyre changes with the temperature. If you are cycling
on a hot day, the pressure inside the tyres will be bigger than on a cold day.
To understand why the pressure is bigger, think about the air particles. In a
gas the particles move around very fast. When they collide with the walls of a
container, like the inside of a tyre, they produce a pressure on the walls that
keeps the tyre inflated.
If you heat a gas, its particles move faster. If the gas is trapped in a container that
cannot get any bigger, like a tyre, the gas pressure gets bigger. This is because
there are more collisions between the gas particles and the container walls.

cool gas, less hot gas, more

energetic, fewer energetic, more
collisions collisions

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 Forces and motion

What is the link between pressure and 9000

temperature? 8000
Here are some data from a company that makes
7000
tyres. The graph shows how the tyre pressure
changes with temperature. 6000
The graph shows that as the temperature rises, the

pressure (Pa)
5000
pressure increases. For each increase of 20 °C, the
tyre pressure increases by the same amount. 4000

3000
What is the link between volume and
temperature? 2000
Isaac knew that when a gas is in a container that
1000
cannot expand, the pressure is inversely proportional
to its volume. If you double the volume the pressure 0
will halve. He wanted to find out what happens to the 0 20 40 60 80 100
temperature (°C)
volume when you heat a gas that can expand.
He took a balloon and blew it up to less than half
full. He measured the circumference of the balloon by putting a piece of string
around the widest part of the balloon.
Next Isaac held the balloon in hot water, being careful not to hurt his hands.
He took the balloon out of the water and measured the circumference. Finally
he held the balloon in very cold water, and measured the circumference again.
The table shows Isaac’s results.

Temperature of water Circumference (cm)

hot 18
warm 17
cold 16

Isaac found out that as the temperature rises, the volume of the balloon
increases. The volume of the balloon expands until the pressure inside and
outside the balloon is the same.

1 Copy these sentences and fill in the gaps. ● If the temperature of a

If you increase the temperature of gas in a container that cannot expand, the pressure will gas increases, its pressure
. This is because the particles in the gas are moving increases.
and colliding often. ● If the temperature of a gas
2 Explain the results of Isaac’s experiment using the idea of air particles. increases, its volume increases
3 a How could Isaac change his experiment so that he could plot a line graph? ● You can explain observations
of pressure, temperature, and
b What would you expect his line graph to look like?
volume using a particle model.
4 If a bicycle tyre gets worn thin, you might get a puncture. Is this more likely to happen
on a hot or a cold day? Explain your answer.

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