Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
Pascals (Pa) are the unit of pressure in the International System of Units (SI). They measure force per unit area, specifically one newton per square meter.
5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test
1 Pascal is equivalent to a force of one newton acting on an area of one square meter.
In physical applications, Pascals are often used to describe fluid pressure and stress in materials.
Integrating pressure over an area can yield forces, useful in calculating work done by or on fluids.
Pressure expressed in Pascals can be converted to other units such as atmospheres or torr for practical applications.
In calculus, understanding how pressure varies across different sections of a body involves integrating functions that describe these variations.
The SI unit of force, defined as the amount of force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram at a rate of one meter per second squared.
$\text{Pressure}$: $\text{Force per unit area applied perpendicular to the surface. Measured in Pascals (Pa).}$
$\text{Integration}$: $\text{A fundamental concept in calculus involving the summation of infinitesimal quantities over a range to find areas, volumes, central points, and many useful things.}$