Pressure Calculator
Calculate pressure from force and area, in pascals, kilopascals, bar, psi and atmospheres.
Force spread over an area — the same push concentrated or dispersed.
How the pressure calculator works
Pressure is force divided by the area it acts on: a pascal is one newton per square meter. Because the pascal is small, engineering uses kilopascals and bar (100 kPa), tyres use psi (6.895 kPa) and weather uses hectopascals or atmospheres (101.325 kPa).
The same force on a smaller area gives a larger pressure — a stiletto heel loads the floor at over 20 times the pressure of an elephant's foot.
Formula: P = F ÷ A
Worked examples
| Inputs | Pressure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 N on 0.05 m² | 20,000 Pa | 20 kPa |
| 600 N (a person) on 0.03 m² (two feet) | 20,000 Pa | 20 kPa |
| 600 N on 0.0001 m² (a heel) | 6,000,000 Pa | 6 MPa — 60 bar |
FAQFrequently asked questions
How many pascals in a bar?
100,000. A bar is close to atmospheric pressure (1.01325 bar). Tyres run at about 2.2 bar, 32 psi.
What is psi?
Pounds-force per square inch: 6,894.76 Pa. 1 bar is 14.5 psi.
Why do sharp things cut?
A small contact area turns a modest force into an enormous pressure — a knife edge concentrates a few newtons onto a fraction of a square millimeter.
What is hydrostatic pressure?
The pressure from a column of fluid: ρgh. Ten meters of water adds about one atmosphere.
Where these figures come from
- NIST — CODATA 2018 fundamental physical constants — G, g₀, R, c
- NIST Special Publication 811 — Guide for the use of the International System of Units — unit conversions
- The Engineering ToolBox — material properties — specific heats, expansion coefficients, densities
- National Institute of Standards and Technology — the US measurement authority
Last checked: September 2026. Constants are the CODATA 2018 values; formulas are the standard textbook forms.