– Did you know that the atmosphere of the globe is 5 trillion 300 billion (5,300,000,000,000,000) tons? To make it easier to understand this unimaginable number, it should be explained with an example. It would be possible to transfer such cargo from Moscow to St. Petersburg in only 4 billion years, provided that the cargo was transported on trains with 100 cars, and the journey of one train was 10 hours.
The North Pole is colder than the South Pole. Quite a popular stereotype among “the people”. Firstly, the South Pole is heated by the sun for about 7 days longer than the South Pole. Secondly, the North Pole is located at an altitude of about 3 kilometers above sea level, while the South Pole is directly above its level. Thirdly, the warm Gulf Stream is located near the North Pole, and besides, the North Pole is surrounded by continents on all sides, which also affects the warmth. As a result, we can assume that all statements that the South Pole is warmer than the North Pole can be considered erroneous.
– Earth and air cannot exist separately. Imagine a situation where the earth's atmosphere does not move with the Earth. As a result, a person could simply rise into the air for a short time, without going anywhere, and descend, as a result the person would end up in a completely different place, because the Earth would have already moved. Thus, humanity would not be able to travel.
– Atmospheric precipitation affects not only people, but also animals. For example, on the Pacific coast of America, in the Atacama Desert, a maximum of 8 mm of precipitation falls per year, which is quite low for this area. Because of this weather, not only there are a lot of animal deaths in the desert, but also their corpses. Dryness does not allow them to rot quickly, as a result of which corpses can easily lie on the ground for decades.
– People who saw a thunderstorm in Egypt can rightfully consider themselves lucky. People in this country are wildly happy about this phenomenon, because a thunderstorm can occur maximum once every 200 years.
– The energy of the sun powers a strong thermal “machine”, which overcomes the force of gravity, thanks to which this “machine” easily lifts into the atmosphere more than 500 thousand kilometers of cubed water from the entire globe. And 411,000³ kilometers rise into the atmosphere exclusively from the surface of the ocean.
– Despite the fact that most people have a negative attitude towards the appearance of lightning in the sky, it is beneficial for the soil. Lightning manages to capture several million tons of nitrogen in the air, and later sends it to the ground. Thanks to this, your grains in the ground can grow faster and the harvest can become richer.
– People learned to determine the direction of the wind, and later speed, about 2000 years ago. The device that the ancient inhabitants of the world used is called a “Weather Vane”. The weather vane was invented in the East, but after its creation, it quickly appeared in Europe. In each country the weather vane looked different. Somewhere he was depicted as a dragon, somewhere as a tiger. Later, the weather vane became not only a device for obtaining wind direction, but also a decoration. For example, in European cities of the Middle Ages it was often installed on tall buildings. In most cases he was depicted as a rooster. The weather vane was popularly nicknamed the “rooster of the weather.” Because along with the direction of the wind, the weather changed very often. It was installed on hills for the reason that ordinary people passing through the city could see it from a long distance and learn about possible weather changes. 
– The Ustyurt plateau is known throughout Kazakhstan. The thing is that in this place there is a rather old well, which, as the locals themselves say, can predict the weather. The fact is that if any precipitation is predicted soon: rain, snow, and maybe fog, then the well draws air into itself. If the weather is dry and sunny, then it pushes out the air. In order for residents to determine whether it draws air into itself or, on the contrary, pushes it out, you just need to throw something into the well; if it flies back, the weather will be dry, otherwise you can expect precipitation. Such a well was even beautifully equipped with lime slabs. It is rightfully considered a natural phenomenon, and the residents themselves claim that the ancient well has never been wrong in its predictions.
– Many people don’t even realize how much money the price of the Earth’s atmosphere costs. Scientists have determined that its approximate cost is 4.3 septillion. One septillion is 1000 to the fifth power of dollars. 
– Every day, 100 tons of relatively small meteorites consisting of dust fragments enter the atmosphere of our planet. The percentage that at least one piece of a meteorite, small even by our standards, will fall to Earth is extremely small, and scientists have the opportunity to find out about this long before its fall.
– The Khoba meteorite is one of the most famous, as it fell on our Earth. It managed to pass through the atmosphere because it was completely flat on each side. As a result, its passage through the atmosphere can be compared to a stone falling through water.
– Before oxygen appeared in the atmosphere of our planet, bacteria already existed on Earth. Their approximate appearance is 3.5 million years ago. Oxygen did not exist then. 
– At absolutely any time of the year, about 8,600,000 lightning strikes the Earth every day
– A certain encyclopedia Britannica spoke about the fact that clouds can “return” rain to the earth. The point is this. The energy of the sun directly affects the evaporation of water from land and water. Much depends on the energy of the sun: the pattern of moisture circulation in the air, the level of evaporation and precipitation, and ocean currents. Evaporation will be higher than the level of precipitation over the ocean, and the wind will carry water vapor along the ground; in the future, water vapor, that is, precipitation, will fall out, that is, return to the ground. The expression “bring rain back to the earth” may not be the most accurate, however, theoretically this is exactly what happens.
The atmosphere is one of the most important components of our planet. It is she who “shelters” people from the harsh conditions of outer space, such as solar radiation and space debris. However, many facts about the atmosphere are unknown to most people.
1. True color of the sky
Although it's hard to believe, the sky is actually purple. When light enters the atmosphere, air and water particles absorb the light, scattering it. At the same time, the violet color scatters the most, which is why people see a blue sky.
2. An exclusive element in the Earth's atmosphere
As many remember from school, the Earth's atmosphere consists of approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and small amounts of argon, carbon dioxide and other gases. But few people know that our atmosphere is the only one so far discovered by scientists (besides comet 67P) that has free oxygen. Because oxygen is a highly reactive gas, it often reacts with other chemicals in space. Its pure form on Earth makes the planet habitable.
3. White stripe in the sky
Surely, some people have sometimes wondered why a white stripe remains in the sky behind a jet plane. These white trails, known as contrails, form when hot, humid exhaust gases from a plane's engine mix with cooler outside air. Water vapor from the exhaust freezes and becomes visible.
4. Main layers of the atmosphere
The Earth's atmosphere consists of five main layers, which make life on the planet possible. The first of these, the troposphere, extends from sea level to an altitude of about 17 km at the equator. Most weather events occur here.
5. Ozone layer
The next layer of the atmosphere, the stratosphere, reaches an altitude of approximately 50 km at the equator. It contains the ozone layer, which protects people from dangerous ultraviolet rays. Even though this layer is above the troposphere, it may actually be warmer due to the energy absorbed from the sun's rays. Most jet planes and weather balloons fly in the stratosphere. Airplanes can fly faster in it because they are less affected by gravity and friction. Weather balloons can provide a better picture of storms, most of which occur lower in the troposphere.6. Mesosphere
The mesosphere is the middle layer, extending to a height of 85 km above the surface of the planet. Its temperature hovers around -120 °C. Most meteors that enter the Earth's atmosphere burn up in the mesosphere. The last two layers that extend into space are the thermosphere and exosphere.
7. Disappearance of the atmosphere
The Earth most likely lost its atmosphere several times. When the planet was covered in oceans of magma, massive interstellar objects crashed into it. These impacts, which also formed the Moon, may have formed the planet's atmosphere for the first time.
8. If there were no atmospheric gases...
Without the various gases in the atmosphere, the Earth would be too cold for human existence. Water vapor, carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gases absorb heat from the sun and “distribute” it across the planet's surface, helping to create a habitable climate.
9. Formation of the ozone layer
The notorious (and essential) ozone layer was created when oxygen atoms reacted with ultraviolet light from the sun to form ozone. It is ozone that absorbs most of the harmful radiation from the sun. Despite its importance, the ozone layer was formed relatively recently after enough life arose in the oceans to release into the atmosphere the amount of oxygen needed to create a minimum concentration of ozone
10. Ionosphere
The ionosphere is so called because high-energy particles from space and the sun help form ions, creating an "electric layer" around the planet. When there were no satellites, this layer helped reflect radio waves.
11. Acid rain
Acid rain, which destroys entire forests and devastates aquatic ecosystems, forms in the atmosphere when sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide particles mix with water vapor and fall to the ground as rain. These chemical compounds are also found in nature: sulfur dioxide is produced during volcanic eruptions, and nitrogen oxide is produced during lightning strikes.
12. Lightning power
Lightning is so powerful that just one bolt can heat the surrounding air up to 30,000°C. The rapid heating causes an explosive expansion of nearby air, which is heard as a sound wave called thunder.
Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis (northern and southern auroras) are caused by ion reactions occurring in the fourth level of the atmosphere, the thermosphere. When highly charged particles from the solar wind collide with air molecules above the planet's magnetic poles, they glow and create dazzling light shows.
14. Sunsets
Sunsets often look like the sky is on fire as small atmospheric particles scatter the light, reflecting it in orange and yellow hues. The same principle underlies the formation of rainbows.
In 2013, scientists discovered that tiny microbes can survive many kilometers above the Earth's surface. At an altitude of 8-15 km above the planet, microbes were discovered that destroy organic chemicals and float in the atmosphere, “feeding” on them.
Adherents of the theory of the apocalypse and various other horror stories will be interested in learning about.
1. Lightning is beneficial. In their “lightning-fast” flight, they manage to snatch millions of tons of nitrogen from the air, “bind” it and send it into the ground. This free fertilizer enriches the soil in which grains grow.
2. The atmosphere of the globe weighs 5,300,000,000,000,000 tons. If, for example, it were necessary to transport a cargo equal to the weight of the earth’s atmosphere from Moscow to Leningrad, and if each train had 100 cars and covered the entire journey in 10 hours, then it would take almost 4 billion years to transport this cargo.
3. Earth and air are inseparable. If the earth's atmosphere did not move with the Earth, then many trips would be very easy to make. It would be enough to rise above the earth's surface in a balloon and descend when the desired area of the Earth is under the balloon.
4. The North Pole is warmer than the South Pole. The North Pole is at sea level, the South Pole is at an altitude of over 3 kilometers from sea level. The North Pole is surrounded on all sides by continents, which provide a lot of heat in the summer; a branch of the warm Gulf Stream approaches the North Pole; The North Pole is illuminated by the sun almost a day longer than the South Pole.
5. In the Atacama Desert on the Pacific coast of America, no more than 8 millimeters of precipitation falls annually; Because of the dryness, the corpses of dead animals dry out there and do not rot for thirty years.
6. Overcoming the force of gravity, a powerful thermal “engine” driven by the energy of the Sun annually lifts 511 thousand cubic kilometers of water from the surface of the entire globe into the atmosphere. 411 thousand cubic kilometers rises from the ocean surface alone.
7. Thunderstorms in Egypt occur only once every 200 years.
8. The weather vane is believed to be one of the most ancient meteorological instruments. About two thousand years ago, the idea of constructing a “windsock” was brought from the East to Europe. In ancient Japan and China, the weather vane had the appearance of a dragon. In medieval European Cities it became a custom to decorate the spiers of tall buildings with a weather vane depicting a rooster. These devices were called “weather roosters”, since a change in wind was often followed by a change in weather.
9. There is an ancient masonry well that “predicts” the weather on the Ustyurt plateau, in Kazakhstan. Before rain, fog or snowfall, it draws in air, and on a fine, dry sunny day, on the contrary, it pushes it out. If at this moment you throw a hat into the well, it will fly back out before reaching the water. The phenomenon well, lined with dugout lime slabs, serves the Guryev shepherds as a natural barometer. He regularly notifies them of approaching bad weather.
The biggest mirage
The largest mirage was observed in the Arctic at 83° N. and 103°W Donald B. MacMillan in 1913. This mirage, called Fata Morgana, consisted of images of “hills, valleys, forested peaks, spreading 120 ° along the horizon,” which 6 years earlier the American explorer R. Peary had mistakenly taken for the Earth Crocker. On July 17, 1939, the mirage of Mount Speifells-Jökul (1437m) in Iceland was observed at sea at a distance of 539-563 km.
Auroras
They are caused by discharges of electrically charged solar particles in the upper layers of the atmosphere and are observed most often at high latitudes. Auroras can occur at certain times on a cloudless, dark night in the polar regions within 67° geomagnetic latitude. The upper boundary of the auroras passes at an altitude of 1000 km, while the lower boundary drops to 72.5 km.
Lowest latitude
The rarest cases of the appearance of auroras at very low latitudes have been recorded in Cusco, Peru (August 2, 1744), Honolulu Hawaii (September 1, 1859)
Noctilucent clouds reflect sunlight long after sunset. This is due to the fact that they are at a very high altitude. They are believed to consist of ice crystals or meteor dust at altitudes of about 85 km.
Eclipses
The maximum possible duration of a solar eclipse is 7 minutes. 31 p.
The longest eclipse (7 minutes 8 seconds) whose duration has been measured was observed in the Philippines on June 20, 1955. An eclipse lasting 7 minutes 29 seconds should occur on July 16, 2186 in the center of the Atlantic. This will be the longest eclipse in 1,469 years.
An annular eclipse can last 12 minutes 24 seconds.
The total duration of any lunar eclipse in a year can be 104 minutes.
Most and least common.
The highest possible number of eclipses in a year is 7, as was the case in 1935, when there were 5 solar and 2 lunar eclipses. In 1982, there were 4 solar and 3 lunar eclipses.
The minimum possible number of eclipses per year is 2, both solar, as was the case in 1944 and 1969.
Atmosphere pressure.
The highest atmospheric pressure is 815 mm. rt. Art. (or 1133 MB) was registered on December 12, 1968 in the village. Akapa (Siberia, Russia).
The world's lowest pressure (870 hPa) was recorded 482 km west of the island of Guam, Pacific Ocean, at 16 44 N latitude. and 137 46 E. October 12, 1979
During Hurricane Jimber in the Pacific Ocean on September 12, 1988, the atmospheric pressure (at sea level) was recorded at 645 mmHg. (or 860 MB.)
The lowest temperature (-143° C) was recorded at an altitude of 80.5-96.5 km during a night observation of clouds over Kronogard, Sweden, from July 27 to August 7, 1963.
Height of clouds.
Cirrus clouds are usually found at altitudes of 8250 m and above. However, the height of rare noctilucent clouds reaches 240,000 m. Cirrus clouds at an altitude of 8075 m contain unfrozen supercooled water, the temperature of which is -35 ° C.
The lowest are stratus clouds - their height is 1066 m and below. The clouds with the greatest thickness are tropical rain clouds with a vertical front thickness of up to 20,000 m.
Windiest place
The Commonwealth Sea off the coast of George V in Antarctica is the windiest place in the world, with wind speeds reaching 320 km/h.
The strongest wind on the surface of the earth
A wind speed of 371 km/h was recorded on Mount Washington (1916 m above sea level), New Hampshire, USA, on April 12, 1934. A record wind speed (333 km/h) on the plain (44 m above sea level) was recorded March 8, 1972 at the US Air Force base in Thule, Greenland.
The highest wind speed in a tornado (459 km/h) was recorded in Wichita Falls, Texas, USA, on April 2, 1958.
The most destructive cyclone
On November 12, 1970, winds reaching a speed of 240 km/h and a tidal wave 15 m high hit the coast, the Ganges delta and the offshore islands of Bhoda, Hatia, Kukri Mukri, Manpura and Rabnabad (East Pakistan, now Bangladesh), in As a result, between 300,000 and 500,000 people died.
The largest tornado casualties. On April 26, 1989, a tornado struck the town of Shaturia, Bangladesh. Approximately 1,300 people lost their lives, more than 50,000 were left homeless.
Maximum property damage caused by a tornado. The giant storms that struck Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio in April 1985 killed 271 people, injured thousands more and caused more than $400 million in damage.
Largest number of people left homeless due to typhoon. Typhoon Ike, with wind speeds reaching 220 km/h, hit the Philippines on September 2, 1985. 1,363 people were killed, another 300 were injured, and 1.12 million people were left homeless.
Highest death toll from a typhoon. About 10,000 people died on September 18, 1906, when a devastating typhoon with wind speeds of 161 km/h hit Hong Kong.
The most tragic consequences of the monsoon. The monsoon that swept through Thailand in 1983 killed nearly 10,000 people and caused $396 million in damage. In its wake, nearly 100,000 contracted diseases brought by the monsoon, and about 15,000 people had to be evacuated.
Waterspout.
The tallest waterspout for which information is reliable was observed on May 16, 1898 at Eden, New South Wales, Australia. Using a theodolite, its height was determined - 1528m. Its diameter was 3 m.
The true color of the sky.
Although it's hard to believe, the sky is actually purple. When light enters the atmosphere, air and water particles absorb the light, scattering it. At the same time, the violet color scatters the most, which is why people see a blue sky.
An exclusive element in the Earth's atmosphere.
As many remember from school, the Earth's atmosphere consists of approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and small amounts of argon, carbon dioxide and other gases. But few people know that our atmosphere is the only one so far discovered by scientists (besides comet 67P) that has free oxygen. Because oxygen is a highly reactive gas, it often reacts with other chemicals in space. Its pure form on Earth makes the planet habitable.
White stripe in the sky.
Surely, some people have sometimes wondered why a white stripe remains in the sky behind a jet plane. These white trails, known as contrails, form when hot, humid exhaust gases from a plane's engine mix with cooler outside air. Water vapor from the exhaust freezes and becomes visible.
Main layers of the atmosphere.
The Earth's atmosphere consists of five main layers, which make life on the planet possible. The first of these, the troposphere, extends from sea level to an altitude of about 17 km at the equator. Most weather events occur here.
Ozone layer.
The next layer of the atmosphere, the stratosphere, reaches an altitude of approximately 50 km at the equator. It contains the ozone layer, which protects people from dangerous ultraviolet rays. Even though this layer is above the troposphere, it may actually be warmer due to the energy absorbed from the sun's rays. Most jet planes and weather balloons fly in the stratosphere. Airplanes can fly faster in it because they are less affected by gravity and friction. Weather balloons can provide a better picture of storms, most of which occur lower in the troposphere.
Mesosphere.
The mesosphere is the middle layer, extending to a height of 85 km above the surface of the planet. Its temperature hovers around -120 °C. Most meteors that enter the Earth's atmosphere burn up in the mesosphere. The last two layers that extend into space are the thermosphere and exosphere.
Disappearance of the atmosphere.
The Earth most likely lost its atmosphere several times. When the planet was covered in oceans of magma, massive interstellar objects crashed into it. These impacts, which also formed the Moon, may have formed the planet's atmosphere for the first time.
If there were no atmospheric gases...
Without the various gases in the atmosphere, the Earth would be too cold for human existence. Water vapor, carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gases absorb heat from the sun and “distribute” it across the planet's surface, helping to create a habitable climate.
Formation of the ozone layer.
The notorious (and essential) ozone layer was created when oxygen atoms reacted with ultraviolet light from the sun to form ozone. It is ozone that absorbs most of the harmful radiation from the sun. Despite its importance, the ozone layer was formed relatively recently after enough life arose in the oceans to release into the atmosphere the amount of oxygen needed to create a minimum concentration of ozone.
Ionosphere.
The ionosphere is so called because high-energy particles from space and space help form ions, creating an "electric layer" around the planet. When there were no satellites, this layer helped reflect radio waves.
Acid rain.
Acid rain, which destroys entire forests and devastates aquatic ecosystems, forms in the atmosphere when sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide particles mix with water vapor and fall to the ground as rain. These chemical compounds are also found in nature: sulfur dioxide is produced during volcanic eruptions, and nitrogen oxide is produced during lightning strikes.
Lightning power
Lightning is so powerful that just one bolt can heat the surrounding air up to 30,000°C. The rapid heating causes an explosive expansion of nearby air, which is heard as a sound wave called thunder.
Polar Lights.
Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis (northern and southern auroras) are caused by ion reactions occurring in the fourth level of the atmosphere, the thermosphere. When highly charged particles from the solar wind collide with air molecules above the planet's magnetic poles, they glow and create dazzling light shows.
Sunsets.
Sunsets often look like the sky is on fire as small atmospheric particles scatter the light, reflecting it in orange and yellow hues. The same principle underlies the formation of rainbows.
Inhabitants of the upper layers of the atmosphere.
In 2013, scientists discovered that tiny microbes can survive many kilometers above the surface. At an altitude of 8-15 km above the planet, microbes were discovered that destroy organic chemicals and float in the atmosphere, “feeding” on them.
Regional scientific and practical conference for schoolchildren
"Eureka"
Section of Physics and Aerospace
Atmospheric pressure and
people's well-being
Moshonkina Valentina
MKOU Kornilovskaya Secondary School
Bolotninsky district
Novosibirsk region
Scientific adviser:
Karmanova Natalya Grigorievna,
physics and mathematics teacher
first qualified category
Kornilovo 2013
Introduction. 3
Main part.
What is atmospheric pressure? From the history of study 4
atmospheric pressure.
Interesting facts about atmospheric pressure. 5-6
What happens if atmospheric pressure decreases?
Atmospheric pressure and people's well-being. 6-9
Results of my research 10-11
III. Conclusion. 12
IV. Literature. 13
V. Applications. 14-17
I. Introduction.
When reporting on the weather on the radio, the announcers usually end by saying: atmospheric pressure 760 mmHg (or 749, or 754...). But how many people understand what this means and where weather forecasters get this data from? How is atmospheric pressure measured, how does it change and does it affect a person? What is weather sensitivity, and does it exist? How does a change in atmospheric pressure affect the well-being of a healthy or sick person? Which atmospheric pressure, low or high, is better tolerated by people? These are the questions I asked myself when starting this research.
I must say that this problem has been sufficiently studied, and on the Internet you can find many articles devoted to this topic, and where you can find answers to the questions I asked. These are articles describing the results of a web survey of people about the impact of weather changes on their well-being, articles devoted to the results of scientific research on this issue, as well as articles devoted to the occupational safety of people whose work involves changes in atmospheric pressure.
I decided to conduct my research not just by interviewing people, but by simultaneously measuring blood pressure, since in hypertensive people the pressure is not always high, and in hypotensive people, on the contrary, it is not always low. Thus, establish a connection between blood pressure at a given moment, atmospheric pressure and a person’s well-being. (Annex 1)
The research was carried out over 2 months (October, November 2009) and 55 people were the object of research; age from 13 to 70 years. These are mainly school employees (23 people) and students in grades 7–11 (24 people), and 8 elderly people were also involved in the research, these are the grandmothers of school students. (Appendix 4).
Probably my work will not bring anything new to the coverage of this problem, but it was interesting for me to do it.
II. Main part.
What is atmospheric pressure? From the history of the study of atmospheric pressure.
The existence of air has been known to man since ancient times. The Greek thinker Anaximenes, who lived in the 6th century BC, considered air to be the basis of all things. At the same time, air is something elusive, as if immaterial - “spirit”.
For the first time, the weight of air confused people in 1638, when the Duke of Tuscany’s idea to decorate the gardens of Florence with fountains failed - the water did not rise above 10.3 m. (Appendix 2). It turned out that atmospheric pressure can only balance a water column of this height.
The search for the reasons for the stubbornness of water and experiments with a heavier liquid - mercury, undertaken in 1643 by the Italian scientist Torricelli, led to the discovery of atmospheric pressure. Torricelli discovered that the height of the mercury column in his experiment did not depend either on the shape of the tube or on its inclination. At sea level, the height of the mercury column has always been about 760mm. The scientist suggested that the height of the liquid column is balanced by air pressure. Knowing the height of the column and the density of the liquid, you can determine the amount of atmospheric pressure. (Appendix 3)
The correctness of Torricelli's assumption was confirmed in 1648. Pascal's experience on Mount Pui de Dome. Pascal proved that a smaller column of air exerts less pressure. Due to the Earth's gravity and insufficient speed, air molecules cannot leave the near-Earth space. However, they do not fall on the surface of the Earth, but hover above it, because are in continuous thermal motion .
Due to thermal motion and the attraction of molecules to the Earth, their distribution in the atmosphere is uneven. With an atmospheric altitude of 2000-3000 km, 99% of its mass is concentrated in the lower (up to 30 km) layer. Air, like other gases, is highly compressible. Lower layers of the atmosphere, as a result of the pressure on them from the upper layers, have big air density.
at sea level the average is 760 mm Hg = 1310 hPa or 1 atm. (1 atmosphere)
With altitude, air pressure and density decrease. At low altitudes, every 12 m of ascent reduces atmospheric pressure by 1 mm Hg. At high altitudes this pattern is broken. This happens because the height of the air column exerting pressure decreases as it rises. In addition, in the upper layers of the atmosphere the air is less dense.
An average-sized person is affected by atmospheric pressure pressure force near 150,000N. But we can cope with such a load, because... external atmospheric pressure is balanced fluid pressure inside our body.
2. Interesting facts about atmospheric pressure. What happens if atmospheric pressure decreases?
The pressure of gases inside the body will tend to ``equilibrate'' with the external pressure. A very simple illustration: cups that are given to a patient. The air in them is heated, causing the gas density to decrease. The jar is quickly applied to the surface, and as the jar and the air in it cool, the human body in this place is drawn into the jar. Imagine such a jar around a person... But that’s not all. As you know, a person consists of at least 75% water. The boiling point of water at atmospheric pressure is 100 C. The boiling point strongly depends on pressure: the lower the pressure, the lower the boiling point. ...Already at a pressure of 0.4 atm. The boiling point of water is 28.64 0 C, which is significantly lower than the human body temperature; human blood will simply boil. About 15 years ago, at one of the institutes in Akademgorodok, the idea arose to try vacuum drying of meat. A large piece of meat was placed in a vacuum chamber and a sharp pumping began. The piece just exploded. After this experiment, it was quite difficult to scrape its results from the walls of the vacuum chamber.
How can a person tolerate different altitudes above sea level? 1-2 km is a safe or indifferent zone in which no physiological changes are observed in the body. 2-4 km is a zone of full compensation: some disturbances in cardiovascular activity quickly disappear thanks to the mobilization of the body. 4-5 km – zone of incomplete compensation: deterioration of general well-being. 6–8 km – critical zone: serious functional changes in the body’s vital activity. More than 8 km is a lethal zone: a person can stay at this altitude without breathing apparatus for only 3 minutes. At an altitude of 16 km - 9 s after which death occurs.
3.Atmospheric pressure and people’s well-being.
We often hear complaints about poor health due to changing weather and changes in atmospheric pressure. It is interesting to what extent these complaints have any basis in reality. I set myself the task of finding out whether there is a connection between these phenomena. If this connection exists, how does it relate to a person's blood pressure, and is there a connection with age.
I am not a pioneer on this issue. You can find articles on this topic on the Internet. So Alexey Moshchevikin
published the results of his research on the influence of atmospheric pressure on people’s well-being in February 2004, but he conducted his research solely on the basis of a survey of people visiting the Internet, relying only on people’s subjective feelings. The conclusion obtained by Moshchevikin as a result of his research:
IN 
Contrary to popular belief, people’s well-being depends little (or not at all) on such a meteorological parameter as atmospheric pressure (at least under conditions of non-extreme values).
Percentage of people who felt unwell relative to the total number in each category
On one of the Internet sites there is an article devoted to the influence of not only atmospheric pressure, but also humidity and air temperature on well-being, and these studies are, in our opinion, more serious. The authors believe that one in three adults react to sudden weather changes. Moreover, women experience this twice as often as men. People who feel discomfort from weather fluctuations, magnetic storms, and solar activity are called weather-sensitive. In women, due to sudden weather changes, good health can easily change to bad. There is even the science of biometeorology, which deals with these issues.
In an article by folk healer Nikolai Ivanovich Maznev
it talks about the reasons that cause deterioration in well-being when pressure changes. When pressure decreases, due to the difference between atmospheric pressure and pressure inside the body, gases in the stomach and intestines expand, which push up the diaphragm, making breathing difficult, and also cause abdominal pain. The blood vessels of the skin and mucous membranes dilate, which leads to nosebleeds. Pain in the ears appears due to protrusion of the eardrum outward, which disappears after equalizing the pressure on both sides; This is facilitated by yawning and swallowing, which create conditions for the middle ear to communicate with the outside air through the Eustachian tube. Due to lack of oxygen, shortness of breath, dizziness,
Staying in conditions of high atmospheric pressure is almost no different from normal conditions. Only at very high blood pressure is there a slight reduction in heart rate and a decrease in minimum blood pressure. Breathing becomes rarer but deeper. Hearing and sense of smell decrease slightly, the voice becomes muffled, a feeling of slightly numb skin appears, dry mucous membranes, etc. However, all these phenomena are relatively easily tolerated.
More unfavorable phenomena are observed during the period of changes in atmospheric pressure - increase (compression) and especially its decrease (decompression) to normal. The slower the change in pressure occurs, the better and without adverse consequences the human body adapts to it.
With reduced atmospheric pressure, there is increased and deepening of breathing, increased heart rate (their strength is weaker), a slight drop in blood pressure, and changes in the blood are also observed in the form of an increase in the number of red blood cells. The adverse effect of low atmospheric pressure on the body is based on oxygen starvation. It is due to the fact that with a decrease in atmospheric pressure, the partial pressure of oxygen also decreases, therefore, with the normal functioning of the respiratory and circulatory organs, less oxygen enters the body. Under normal conditions on the surface of the earth, annual fluctuations in atmospheric air do not exceed 20-30 mm, and daily fluctuations are 4-5 mm. Healthy people tolerate them easily and unnoticed. But some patients are very sensitive to even such minor changes in pressure. Thus, with a decrease in blood pressure, people suffering from rheumatism experience pain in the affected joints; in patients with hypertension, their health worsens and attacks of angina are observed. In people with increased nervous excitability, sudden changes in pressure cause feelings of fear, worsening mood and sleep.
It must be said that the well-being of a person who has lived in a certain area for a long time is normal, i.e. the characteristic pressure should not cause any particular deterioration in well-being.
Meteosensitivity is observed in 35-70% of patients with various diseases. Thus, every second patient with diseases of the cardiovascular system feels the weather. Headache, weakness, and fatigue on the eve of a weather change worry almost every second person, especially older people. Significant atmospheric changes can cause overstrain and disruption of adaptation mechanisms. Then the oscillatory processes in the body - biological rhythms - become distorted and become chaotic.
And so, for a healthy person, meteorological fluctuations, as a rule, are not dangerous. Nevertheless, people who do not feel the weather still exhibit reactions to it, although sometimes they are not consciously aware of it. They must be taken into account, for example, among transport drivers. When weather conditions change sharply, it becomes more difficult for them to concentrate. Hence, the number of accidents may increase. As a result of illnesses (flu, sore throat, pneumonia, joint diseases, etc.) or fatigue, the body's resistance and reserves decrease
4. Results of my research.
Measurements were not taken every day, but only on those days when the pressure changed noticeably. The results of blood pressure measurements and the survey were entered into tables (Appendix 4,5,6), in which age, current blood pressure, health (very poor, worse than usual, normal, excellent), as well as atmospheric pressure on a given day were noted . If people felt unwell, they were asked whether this was due to changes in the weather or other reasons.
In our area, the most common atmospheric pressure is about 740 mmHg. Higher blood pressure is rare, so the pressure
750 mmHg I consider it as elevated (760 mm Hg is very rare) and 730 mmHg as reduced.
Studies have shown that most of those examined feel normal at different atmospheric pressures, regardless of blood pressure. What can be observed in the following table and diagram.
| Low atmospheric pressure | Normal atmospheric pressure | High atmospheric pressure |
|
| Adults. | |||
Looking at the data, we can conclude that the younger generation feels better at any atmospheric pressure, which is to be expected, since a young body is less burdened with diseases than an adult. However, it is clear that with low blood pressure both adults and children feel somewhat worse than with normal and high blood pressure. It is also clear that with normal pressure everyone feels a little better: in children it approaches 100%, and in adults it approaches 80%, which corresponds to the conclusions in the article by Nikolai Maznev.
As for the reaction to changes in atmospheric pressure (weather), 63.6% of respondents responded that this affects their well-being, of which the vast majority have problems with blood pressure. Moreover, hypertensive people believe that they feel better at high atmospheric pressure, and hypotensive people feel better at low pressure.
Let's consider the well-being of hypertensive and hypotensive patients at different atmospheric pressures.
| Low atmospheric pressure | Normal atmospheric pressure | High atmospheric pressure |
|
| Hypertensive patients. | |||
| Hypotonics. | |||
| Healthy. |
Here, hypertensives and hypotensives mean people who had high or low blood pressure on a given day, and healthy people with normal blood pressure.
Analyzing the diagram, we can say that hypertensive patients have the most problems with well-being. But, probably, the reason for this is not only the weather, but also health problems in general, because... and at normal atmospheric pressure their health is not very good. As for hypotensive patients, the results obtained seem doubtful to me, because There were very few of them among those examined.
III. Conclusion.
Analyzing the above, we can draw the following conclusions. People do have some weather sensitivity, and people who have certain diseases, in particular problems with blood pressure, are more susceptible to it. But we see that people with normal blood pressure are also sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure. Low blood pressure is less tolerated, but even with high blood pressure there is some deterioration in well-being. Manifestations of meteosensitivity depend on the initial state of the body, age, the presence of any disease and its nature, the microclimate in which a person lives, and the degree of his acclimatization to it. Meteosensitivity is more often observed in people who spend little time in the fresh air, who are engaged in sedentary work, mental work, and who do not engage in physical exercise. For a healthy person, meteorological fluctuations are usually not dangerous. . More often, meteosensitivity is observed in persons with a weak (melancholic) and strong unbalanced (choleric) type of nervous system. In people of a strong, balanced type (sanguine people), meteosensitivity manifests itself only when the body is weakened. We are not able to influence the weather. But helping your body survive this difficult period is not at all difficult. If you predict a significant deterioration in weather conditions, and therefore sudden changes in atmospheric pressure, you should first of all not panic, calm down, and reduce physical activity as much as possible.
I believe that the results of my study are consistent with the results of the studies described in the articles I mentioned above.
Literature.
1. E.K. Kiryanova. "Atmosphere pressure". Internet. Festival of pedagogical ideas.
2. Atmospheric pressure. From the history of discovery. Internet. www.townsketch.
3. N.I. Maznev. Environmental influence. Air pressure and body condition. Internet. www.maznev.ru
4. Alexey Moshchevikin. The connection between blood pressure and well-being. Results of web testing. Internet. thermo.karelia.ru/projects/p_health_results.
5. Atmospheric pressure, wind, sun, pressure, humidity. Internet www.propogodu.ru/2/491/
6.Atmospheric pressure. Occupational Safety and Health. Internet. www.cultinfo.ru/fulltext/1/001/008/080/242.htm
7. Weather sensitivity and diseases associated with atmospheric pressure. Internet. humbio.ru/Humbio/prof_d/00008499.htm
8. The influence of atmospheric pressure on human well-being. Internet.
www.baroma.ru/atmdav.html
Annex 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix -5. Sample tables with measurement and survey data.
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