What is Pascal's law of fluid pressure?

Pascal's law is a principle in fluid mechanics stating that a pressure change at any point in a confined incompressible fluid is transmitted equally throughout the fluid. Established by French mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1653, it describes how pressure behaves in enclosed systems. This concept remains foundational for understanding fluid statics, and related principles like hydrostatics study fluids at equilibrium across various scientific disciplines.

What we know

• Pascal's law states that any pressure change at any point in a confined incompressible fluid is transmitted throughout the fluid such that the same change occurs everywhere. [2]
• The law was established by the French mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1653 and subsequently published in 1663. [2]
• Hydrostatics is the branch of fluid mechanics that studies fluids at hydrostatic equilibrium and the pressure exerted by a fluid on an immersed body. [5]

Where to go next

• whoWho was Blaise Pascal?
• the bigger pictureWhat is fluid mechanics?
• how it workedHow does hydrostatic pressure work?
• compared withWhat is dynamic pressure?
• what followedWhat is hydrostatics?
• an unexpected connectionHow do plate tectonics relate to fluid statics?Hydrostatics provides physical explanations used in geophysics to help understand phenomena like plate tectonics.

Sources

• [1]Pascal's law (Wikidata Q190760) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Pascal's law · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Hydrostatic pressure · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Dynamic pressure · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Hydrostatics · CC BY-SA 4.0