Orders of magnitude (pressure)
This is a tabulated listing of the orders of magnitude in relation to pressure expressed in pascals.
Magnitude | Pressure | lbf/in2 or dB | Item |
10−17 Pa | 10 aPa | Pressure in outer space in intergalactic voids | |
10−15 Pa | 1–10 fPa | Pressure in outer space between stars in the Milky Way | |
10−12 Pa | < 1 pPa | Lowest pressure obtained in laboratory conditions | |
10−11 Pa | - | - | - |
10−11 Pa | 40 pPa | Atmosphere of the Moon at lunar day, very approximately | |
10−10 Pa | 100 pPa | Atmosphere of Mercury, very approximately | |
10−10 Pa | 800 pPa | Atmosphere of the Moon at lunar night, very approximately | |
10−9 Pa | < 1 nPa | Vacuum expected in the beam pipe of the Large Hadron Collider's Atlas experiment | |
10−9 Pa | ~1 nPa | Approximate solar wind pressure at Earth's distance from the Sun | |
10−8 Pa | 10 nPa | Pressure inside a vacuum chamber for laser cooling of atoms | |
10−8 Pa | 10–700 nPa | Atmospheric pressure in low Earth orbit, around 500 km altitude | |
10−7 Pa | 100 nPa | Highest pressure still considered ultra-high vacuum | |
10−6 Pa | 0.1 - 10 µPa | Pressure inside a cathode ray tube | |
10−6 Pa | 1 µPa | Reference pressure for sound in water | |
10−6 Pa | 1 µPa | Pressure inside a vacuum tube | |
10−5 Pa | 10 µPa | Radiation pressure of sunlight on a perfectly reflecting surface at the distance of the Earth. | |
10−5 Pa | 20 µPa | 0 dB | Reference pressure for sound in air |
10−5 Pa | ±20 µPa | 0 dB | Threshold of human hearing |
10−4 Pa | - | ||
10−3 Pa | 1–100 mPa | Vacuum pressures used for molecular distillation | |
10−2 Pa | |||
10−1 Pa | 100 mPa | Upper limit of high vacuum | |
10−1 Pa | ~200 mPa | Atmospheric pressure on Pluto | |
1 Pa | 1 Pa | Pressure exerted by a US dollar bill resting flat on a surface | |
1 Pa | 1 Pa | Upper limit of molecular distillation, where the mean free path of molecules is larger than the equipment size | |
10 Pa | 10 Pa | Pressure increase per millimeter of a water column at Earth mean sea level | |
10 Pa | 10 Pa | Pressure due to direct impact of a gentle breeze | |
10 Pa | 86 Pa | Pressure from the weight of a U.S. penny lying flat | |
102 Pa | 100 Pa | Pressure due to direct impact of a strong breeze | |
102 Pa | 120 Pa | Pressure from the weight of a U.S. quarter lying flat | |
102 Pa | 133 Pa | 1 torr ≈ 1 mmHg | |
102 Pa | ±200 Pa | ~140 dB | Threshold of pain pressure level for sound. Prolonged exposure may lead to hearing loss. |
102 Pa | ±300 Pa | ±0.043 psi | Lung air pressure difference moving the normal breaths of a person |
102 Pa | 400–900 Pa | 0.06–0.13 psi | Atmospheric pressure on Mars, < 1% of atmospheric sea-level pressure on Earth |
102 Pa | 610 Pa | 0.089 psi | Partial vapour pressure at the triple point of water. |
103 Pa | 1–10 kPa | Typical explosion peak overpressure needed to break glass windows | |
103 Pa | 2 kPa | Pressure of popping popcorn | |
103 Pa | 2.6 kPa | 0.38 psi | Pressure to make water boil at room temperature |
103 Pa | 5 kPa | 0.8 psi | Blood pressure fluctuation between heartbeats for a typical healthy adult |
103 Pa | 6.3 kPa | 0.9 psi | Pressure where water boils at normal human body temperature, the pressure below which humans absolutely cannot survive. |
103 Pa | +9.8 kPa | +1.4 psi | Lung pressure that a typical person can exert |
104 Pa | 10 kPa | 1.5 psi | Pressure increase per meter of a water column |
104 Pa | 10 kPa | 1.5 psi | Decrease in air pressure when going from Earth sea level to 1000 m elevation |
104 Pa | +13 kPa | +1.9 psi | High air pressure for human lung, measured for trumpet player making staccato high notes |
104 Pa | < +16 kPa | +2.3 psi | Systolic blood pressure in a healthy adult while at rest |
104 Pa | +19.3 kPa | +2.8 psi | High end of lung pressure, exertable without injury by a healthy person for brief times |
104 Pa | +34 kPa | +5 psi | Level of long-duration blast overpressure that would cause most buildings to collapse |
104 Pa | 34 kPa | Atmospheric pressure at the summit of Mount Everest | |
104 Pa | +70 kPa | +10 psi | Pressure for paint exiting an HVLP paint spray gun |
104 Pa | 70 kPa | Pressure inside an incandescent light bulb | |
104 Pa | 75 kPa | Minimum airplane cabin pressure and lowest pressure for normal breathing. | |
104 Pa | 80 kPa | 12 psi | Pressure inside vacuum cleaner at sea level on Earth |
104 Pa | 87 kPa | 13 psi | Record low atmospheric pressure for typhoon/hurricane |
105 Pa | 100 kPa | 15 psi | 1 bar, approximately equal to the weight of one kilogram acting on one square centimeter |
105 Pa | 101.325 kPa | 15 psi | Standard atmospheric pressure for Earth sea level |
105 Pa | 25 to > 80 psi | Impact pressure of a fist punch | |
105 Pa | +26 to +36 psi | Air pressure in an automobile tire relative to atmosphere | |
105 Pa | +30 to +130 psi | Air pressure in a bicycle tire relative to atmosphere | |
105 Pa | 50 psi | Water pressure of a garden hose | |
105 Pa | 300 to 700 kPa | 50–100 psi | Typical water pressure of a municipal water supply in the US |
105 Pa | 400 to 600 kPa | 60–90 psi | Carbon dioxide pressure in a champagne bottle |
105 Pa | Partial vapour pressure at the triple point of carbon dioxide | ||
105 Pa | +690 to +830 kPa | +100 to +120 psi | Air pressure in a heavy truck/bus tire relative to atmosphere |
105 Pa | 800 kPa | Vapor pressure of water in a kernel of popcorn when the kernel ruptures | |
106 Pa | 0.8–2 MPa | 120–290 psi | Pressure used in boilers of steam locomotives |
106 Pa | 162 psi | Pressure of an average human bite | |
106 Pa | 2.8–8.3 MPa | 400–1200 psi | Pressure of carbon dioxide propellant in a paintball gun |
106 Pa | 700 psi | Water pressure of the output of a coin-operated car wash spray nozzle | |
106 Pa | 5 MPa | 700 psi | Military submarine max. rated pressure of Seawolf-class nuclear submarine, at depth of |
106 Pa | 10-21 MPa | 1500-3000 psi | Chamber pressure of a high-powered air gun |
106 Pa | 6.9–27 MPa | 1000–4000 psi | Water spray pressure used by pressure washers |
106 Pa | 9.2 MPa | 1300 psi | Atmosphere of Venus |
107 Pa | > 10 MPa | > 1500 psi | Pressure exerted by a woman wearing stiletto heels when a heel hits the floor |
107 Pa | 20 MPa | 2900 psi | Typical pressure used for hydrogenolysis reactions |
107 Pa | 21 MPa | 3000 psi | Pressure of a typical aluminium scuba tank of pressurized air |
107 Pa | 21 MPa | 3000 psi | Ballistic pressure exerted as high-power bullet strikes a solid bulletproof object |
107 Pa | 22 MPa | 3200 psi | Critical pressure of water |
107 Pa | 25 MPa | 3600 psi | Record diesel engine common rail fuel system pressure. |
107 Pa | 28 MPa | 4100 psi | Overpressure caused by the bomb explosion during the Oklahoma City bombing |
107 Pa | 69 MPa | 10000 psi | Water pressure withstood by the DSV Shinkai 6500 in visiting ocean depths of > 6500 meters |
107 Pa | 70 to 280 MPa | 10000 to 40000 psi | Maximal chamber pressure during a pistol firing |
108 Pa | 70 to 280 MPa | 10000 to 40000 psi | Maximal chamber pressure during a pistol firing |
108 Pa | 110 MPa | 16000 psi | Pressure at bottom of Mariana Trench, about 11 km below ocean surface |
108 Pa | 100 to 300 MPa | Pressure inside reactor for the synthesis of high-pressure polyethylene | |
108 Pa | 400 MPa | Chamber pressure of late 1910s.50 Browning machine gun discharge | |
108 Pa | 35000–90000 psi | Water pressure used in a water jet cutter | |
109 Pa | 1 GPa | Extremely high-pressure chemical reactors | |
109 Pa | 1.5 GPa | Diamond melts using a laser without turning into graphite first. | |
109 Pa | 1.5 GPa | tensile strength of Inconel 625 according to Aircraft metal strength tables and the Mil-Hdbk-5 | |
109 Pa | 5.8 GPa | Ultimate tensile strength of the polymer Zylon | |
1010 Pa | 10 GPa | Pressure at which octaoxygen forms at room temperature | |
1010 Pa | 18 GPa | Pressure needed for the first commercially successful synthesis of diamond | |
1010 Pa | 24 to 110 GPa | Stability range of enstatite in its perovskite-structured polymorph, possibly the most common mineral inside the Earth | |
1010 Pa | 40 GPa | Quantum-mechanical electron degeneracy pressure in a block of copper | |
1010 Pa | 48 GPa | Detonation pressure of pure CL-20, the most powerful high explosive in mass production. | |
1010 Pa | 10,000,000 psi | Highest water jet pressure attained in research lab | |
1010 Pa | 96 GPa | Pressure at which metallic oxygen forms | |
1011 Pa | 100 GPa | Theoretical tensile strength of a carbon nanotube | |
1011 Pa | 130 GPa | Ultimate tensile strength of monolayer graphene | |
1011 Pa | 360 GPa | Pressure inside Earth's inner core | |
1011 Pa | 495 GPa | Lower bound at which metallic hydrogen theoretically forms | |
1011 Pa | > 600 GPa | Pressure attainable with a diamond anvil cell | |
1012 Pa | 5 TPa | Pressure generated by the National Ignition Facility fusion reactor | |
1013 Pa | 10 TPa | solid matter changes to the metastable inner-shell molecular state | |
1014 Pa | 540 TPa | Pressure inside an Ivy Mike-like nuclear bomb detonation | |
1015 Pa | 6.5 PPa | Pressure inside a W80 nuclear warhead detonation | |
1016 Pa | 25 PPa | Pressure inside Sun's core | |
1023 Pa | 100 EPa - 100 YPa | Pressure inside the core of a white dwarf at the Chandrasekhar limit | |
1034 Pa | Pressure range inside a neutron star | ||
1035 Pa | Approximate pressure at the center of a proton | ||
... | ... | ... | ... |
10113 Pa | The Planck pressure |