When we travel by airplane, the pressure changes. What does that mean exactly? Why does it make my ears hurt?
Equally, deep sea diving and submersibles. Ive read that the glass has to be massively reinforced to stand the pressure. Is the change in pressure the same type for air and sea? I.e does pressure increase for both?
Edit; Everyone did great! I understand now! The answer is “Water be heavy” and “Air be heavy. Less air above you when you fly so less pressure”
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It’s almost exactly the same as the water pressure thing, with the main difference being that water pressure increases at a rate of 1 atmosphere of pressure every 10 meters, while for air, you get 1 atmosphere of pressure for ~500 kilometers of air.
Pressure increases the deeper in a fluid you go. At sea level, you are on the bottom of the atmosphere, so there you have the highest pressure.
In a plane, you go up 30,000 feet, so you’re no longer as deep, and so you don’t have as much pressure pushing in on you. The ear popping is a consequence of that, because the pressure inside your body no longer has as much pushing against it, so it can push out more, popping your ears.
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