Why does air pressure difference make us have airplane ears during a flight, if airliners are pressurized?
In: Physics
Airliners are not pressurized to the pressure of the airport you take off from or to sea level pressure. The requirement is the pressure should be at least what it is at 8,000 ft (2,438 m) which is close to 75% of the pressure at sea-level
The reason is the higher the pressure difference between the inside and outside the higher the force the hull needs to handle. You could build the airplane so it is pressurized to sea-level pressure, it is allowed and not hard at all, the problem is it would make the airplane heavier, which means it costs more to operate. Some airplanes are pressurized to a slightly lower altitude but I do not think any is to sea-level
The required pressure is picked so humans do not get sick from it. The problem with air is one of pressure change and there are rules of how fast the pressure can drop and increase.
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