Eli5: If water can’t be compressed under normal conditions, then how does water pressure work?

182 views

Eli5: If water can’t be compressed under normal conditions, then how does water pressure work?

In: 18

14 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Lets say you have two syringes, one full of air, one full of water. You seal them so nothing gets out.

If you push on the air plunger, you can move it in, and if you move it in halfway, the pressure is about double what it started at(for more info on that ‘about’ search for adiabatic vs isothermal compression.)

If you push on the water plunger, the pressure rises in proportion to how hard you push, without changing in volume.

Pressure is just how much force there is pushing against an area, compression is about how much stuff you shoved into a given volume.

You are viewing 1 out of 14 answers, click here to view all answers.