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jensjoy t1_iy4idhc wrote

Reply to comment by Belisaurius555 in ELI5: How is our body able withstand the pressure of miles of air in the atmosphere? by [deleted]

>but the air underneath you is pushing you up

Not how it works. Pressure comes from the top.
Think when you're diving. The deeper you go the higher the pressure, regardless of how much water is beneath you.

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Belisaurius555 t1_iy4tugo wrote

Not what I was saying and not accurate. Change the direction of a barometer and the reading will stay the same. Pressure might increase with depth but the pressure hits you from all directions at once.

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Moskau50 t1_iy4pjqa wrote

Pressure is caused by the column height of fluid, but the force that the pressure exerts is omnidirectional (technically, normal to every surface, but assuming a closed, real shape, that becomes omnidirectional). At any given depth, there's no net force of pressure upwards or downwards; assuming a short object, the bottom of the object experiences the same pressure as the top, which means the net force acting on each side is equal.

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