Inch of mercury (inHg and ″Hg) is a non- SI

unit of measurement A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a mult ...

for

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country a ...

. It is used for

barometric pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1013.25 millibar ...

weather report Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian virtuoso keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer and voca ...

refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

and

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. It is the pressure exerted by a column of mercury in height at the

standard acceleration of gravity The standard acceleration due to gravity (or standard acceleration of free fall), sometimes abbreviated as standard gravity, usually denoted by or , is the nominal gravitational acceleration of an object in a vacuum near the surface of the Earth. ...

. Conversion to metric units depends on the temperature of mercury, and hence its density; typical conversion factors are: In older literature, an "inch of mercury" is based on the height of a column of mercury at .Barry N. Taylor, ''Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI),'' 1995,

NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sc ...

Special Publication 811, Appendix

/ref> :1 inHg_60 °F = In Imperial units: 1 inHg_60 °F = 0.489 771 Pounds per square inch, psi, or 2.041 771 inHg_60 °F = 1 psi.

Applications

Aircraft and automobiles

Aircraft

altimeter An altimeter or an altitude meter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth under water. The m ...

s measure the relative pressure difference between the lower ambient pressure at altitude and a calibrated reading on the ground. In the United States, CanadaFrom the Ground Up – 29th Edition and Japan, these altimeter readings are provided in inches of mercury, but most other nations use

hectopascal The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the unit of pressure in the International System of Units (SI), and is also used to quantify internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus, and ultimate tensile strength. The unit, named after Blaise Pascal, is defin ...

s. Ground readings vary with weather and along the route of the aircraft as it travels, so current readings are relayed periodically by air traffic control. Aircraft operating at higher altitudes (at or above what is called the transition altitude, which varies by country) set their barometric

s to a standard pressure of 29.92 inHg (1 atm = 29.92 inHg) or 1013.25 hPa (1 hPa = 1 mbar) regardless of the actual sea level pressure. The resulting altimeter readings are known as flight levels.

Piston engine A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common fea ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines. ...

with constant-speed propellers also use inches of mercury to measure manifold pressure, which is indicative of engine power produced in engines equipped with a

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced indu ...

or turbosupercharger (naturally aspirated engines measure manifold vacuum instead). In automobile racing, particularly

United States Auto Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapo ...

and

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Team ...

Indy car racing, inches of mercury was the unit used to measure

turbocharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...

inlet pressure. However, the inch of mercury is still used today in car performance modification to measure the amount of vacuum or pressure within the engine's intake manifold. This can be seen on "boost gauges (forced induction) or vacuum gauges (natural induction), which give a rough indication of the relative power being produced at any given time.

Cooling systems

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

and refrigeration, inHg is often used to describe "inches of mercury vacuum", or pressures below ambient atmospheric pressure, for recovery of refrigerants from air conditioning and refrigeration systems, as well as for leak testing of systems while under a vacuum, and for dehydration of refrigeration systems. The low-side gauge in a refrigeration gauge manifold indicates pressures below ambient in "inches of mercury vacuum" (inHg), down to a 30 inHg vacuum. Inches of mercury is also used in automotive cooling system vacuum test and fill tools. A technician will use this tool to remove air from modern automotive cooling systems, test the system's ability to hold vacuum, and subsequently refill using the vacuum as suction for the new coolant. Typical minimum vacuum values are between 22 and 27 inHg.

Vacuum brakes

Inches of mercury was the usual unit of pressure measurement in railway vacuum brakes.

References

{{United States Customary Units Units of pressure Mercury (element) Customary units of measurement in the United States

Applications

Aircraft and automobiles

Cooling systems

Vacuum brakes

See also

References