A bag of potato chips is sealed in a factory near sea level.

Question

The atmospheric pressure at the factory is 761.3 mm Hg. The pressure inside the bag is the same. What is the pressure inside the bag of potato chips in Pa? (Answer: 1.01 x 105 Pa).

How is the (Answer: 1.01 x 10^5 Pa). I got 101498 Pa

Answer 1

This is a problem of conversion. You need to know the conversion factor between mm Hg and Pa, just like you know the conversion from feet to inches is 12 inches = 1 foot. You could look up the conversion factor between mm Hg and Pa, or you can use the commonly known factors as follows:

101.325 kPa = 1 atm

1 atm = 760 mm Hg

So...

101.325 kPa = 760 mm Hg

If we have 761.3 mm Hg we can convert to kPa as follows:

761.3 mm Hg x 101.325 kPa/760 mm Hg = 101.498 kPa

Converting this to Pa we have...

101.498 kPa x 1000 Pa/kPa = 101498 Pa = 1.01498x10⁵ Pa = 1.01x10⁵ Pa