Pressure II Segment 11: Toricelli
from Everyday Science Hosted by PSD10 and Little Shop of Physics
In the 1600s, Evangelista Toricelli developed a barometer -- a device used to measure air pressure. Toricelli put mercury inside a bent glass tube (shaped something like an "L" or a candy cane). The high end of the tube was capped; the low end was open. (Air pressure kept the mercury inside.) When the outside air pressure rose, air would push inside the low end, causing the mercury to rise. Toricelli noticed that a change in the air pressure predicted a change in the weather. This principle is still used in meteorology today.
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