eli5: Why do our ears pop when we change altitude? And if it’s pressure, why do they do it in pressurised plane cabins?
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When at high elevation, like in an airplane or on a mountain, the air pressure decreases as you go higher. This can cause a pressure difference between the air inside your ear and the air outside. To equalize this pressure, your Eustachian tubes, which connect your middle ear to the back of your throat, open up briefly, allowing air to flow in or out, which is what you feel when your ears “pop.” This is why chewing gum, yawning, or swallowing helps.
EDIT: To answer the second part of your question, even though commercial airplane cabins are pressurized to a certain extent, they can’t maintain the same atmospheric pressure as you’d experience at sea level. The cabins are pressurized to a level equivalent to an altitude of around 6,000 to 8,000 feet, which is lower than sea level pressure.
So, as the plane ascends to cruising altitude, the cabin pressure gradually decreases, creating a difference in pressure between the inside of your ears (which are still adjusted to ground-level pressure) and the cabin. This pressure difference can cause your ears to pop.
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