Pascal (unit) dB SPL, or 20 µPa. The airtightness of buildings is measured at 50 Pa. The units of atmospheric pressure commonly used in meteorology were formerly the bar, which was close to the average air pressure on Earth, and the millibar. Since the introduction of SI units, meteorologists generally measure pressures in hectopascals (hPa) unit, equal to 100 pascals or 1 millibar. Exceptions include Canada, which use kilopascals (kPa). In many other fields of science, the SI is preferred, which means Pa with a prefix (in multiples of 1000) is preferred. Many countries also use the millibars. In practically all other
Pascal (unit) named after Blaise Pascal, noted for his contributions to hydrodynamics and hydrostatics, and experiments with a barometer. The name pascal was adopted for the SI unit newton per square metre (N/m) by the 14th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1971. The pascal can be expressed using SI derived units, or alternatively solely SI base units, as: where N is the newton, m is the metre, kg is the kilogram, s is the second, and J is the joule. One pascal is the pressure exerted by a force of magnitude one newton perpendicularly upon an area of one square