A tube of length /r, which is wide enough to male surface tension effects negligible, is closed at one end. It is then lowered into a tank of mercury to a depth.h as shown in fig. (4), so that mercury rises a distance x into
the tube. If the mercury barometer stands at i also, then
At atmospheric pressure, the air fills the tube. Its volume is h a, where a is area of cross section of the tube. When
the tube is pushed into mercury, the air volume is (h-x) Applying Boyle's law, we have