The barometer, the instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure, was invented by:
- A.Evangelista Torricelli
- B.Anders Celsius
- C.Robert Boyle
- D.Blaise Pascal
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Evangelista Torricelli. In 1643 the Italian scientist Torricelli filled a long glass tube with mercury and inverted it in a dish, and the column that stayed up showed that the air outside was pressing on the mercury; that apparatus is the mercury barometer, and the unit torr is named after him. Option B is wrong because Anders Celsius gave the centigrade temperature scale, which belongs to the thermometer and not the barometer. Option C is wrong because Robert Boyle stated the law relating the pressure and volume of a gas, a law about pressure but not an instrument to measure it. Option D is wrong because Blaise Pascal, though he carried a barometer up a mountain to prove that pressure falls with height and has the unit of pressure named after him, did not invent the instrument. A falling barometer reading warns of a storm, which is why the instrument matters in weather questions.
Read the full article: Inventions and Inventors: Pairs, Years and Exam PYQs
Practice Questions
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