Ask an Explainer

Some call the atmosphere "an ocean of air". We live at the bottom of this ocean, like lobsters on the bottom of the actual ocean. And since they are made up of stuff, they both have pressure! At sea level, we feel a pressure of about 1 kilogram per square centimeter (14.7 pounds per square inch) pushing down us. If we stood at the bottom of the ocean in the Mariana Trench, it would closer to 1000 kilograms per square centimeter (15,000 pounds per square inch)!