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Old November 17th 06, 05:42 PM posted to uk.sci.astronomy
TeaTime
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Posts: 140
Default Mass of the atmosphere

Maybe not relevant to the original question, but out of geeky interest ...

Using Mosteller's formula for estimating the surface area of the human body:
area (sq.m) = SQRT { height (cm) x weight (kg) / 3600 }

I'm quite a big chap and that yields 2.95 sq.m in my case. That means that
the total 'weight' acting on my body due to atmospheric pressure is
approaching 30 tonnes. Of course, there is an inate equal and opposite
pressure inside the body which neatly counterbalances it so that we don't
notice it. It is also presumably the reason that I would tend to explode
rather messily if I were thrown out into the near vacuum of outer space.

Now who is going to tell us the weight of the world's seas and oceans?