I thought of it as this: a 100 pound weight sitting on a 1 inch square bloc= k. The block is pushing down with 100 pounds per square inch. It does not m= atter if the 100 pounds is 1 or 100 feet above the block.. no? I then figur= ed it as this... if there is 41 pounds of water pressing downward - pounds = is a force remember - then we take the area of the object getting pressed u= pon and figure out how each square inch is holding up its own. Obviously it= 's a bit more complex with water pushing against the sides as well, among o= ther things.=20Is this thinking wrong? It's been a while since my highschool p= hysics...=20 --- Begin Orginal Message --- From: =3D?iso-8859-1?Q?Jan-Erik_S=3DF6derholm_XA_=3D28TN/PAC=3D29?=3D To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU CC:=20 Date: 7/29/2003 10:40:33 PM rrc124+@PITT.EDU wrote: > Figuring an approx tank diameter of 12 inches, we get a base > area of 113 in^2 so i think that would mean 0.37 psi or so. What has the diameter and the area to do with the pressure ? AFAI, it's *only* the distans from the surface to the the measuring point that counts (and the specific weight of the liquid, of course). It's the same pressure on the bottom of a 2 m high, 1" diameter, water filled tube as 2 m down in the Atlantic... Jan-Erik. -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body