Caribbean University
Department of Engineering and Informatics Technology
Undergraduate Program
CIEN 322- I4II.21/3U
Experiment No. 05
Digital Barometer
Thais J. Colon Caraballo #180753
Shakira Ocasio Ortiz #230622
Alberto Pérez Ortiz #217666
Reymond Pagan Colon #241612
Ponce-Campus
04-2021
Digital Barometer
1. Objective: Know the operation of the digital barometer.
2. Theory
The National Geographic encyclopedia says that the Earth is wrapped with layers of air,
that is call The Atmosphere. We know that the Earth and everything in it, receive the
pressure of the air, compressing everything like gravity, the atmosphere is some kind of
indication of changes in the weather, like when there is low pressure in the air, storms,
clouds, and rain can appear easily and the more pressure the clearer is the sky and a
sunny and dry day appear. The meteorologist, engineers and many other professionals use
the Barometer to measure these changes, the units used in these measurements are atm
(Atmosphere) or so call Bars that is equal to “the average air pressure at sea level at a
temperature of 15 degrees Celsius”. Types of barometers: Mercury Barometer, Aneroid
Barometer, and The Digital Barometer. Mercury was discontinued for causing bad health
for the users, the aneroid was made of metal but it was not very accurate and so they
invented the digital barometer as we know today.
P=pgh
A conventional mercury-filled barometer consists of a narrow tube that is closed at one
end, evacuated, and filled with mercury and inverted. The open end is submerged in a
reservoir of mercury called the cistern. In a Fortin type barometer, the level in the cistern
is adjustable. The atmospheric pressure acts on the mercury in the cistern which, in turn,
supports the column of mercury in the narrow tube. The height of the mercury column in
the narrow tube is a measure of the pressure acting on the mercury in the cistern. In
addition to displaying the barometric pressure, the digital barometer gives 24-hour
barometric pressure trending, weather forecasting, temperature in °C or °F, and relative
humidity. Barometric pressure can be displayed in inches of Hg or mb (millibar), and hpa
(hectopascals = 100 Pa). Weather forecasting is shown with four (4) symbols indicating
sun, sun and clouds, clouds, and rain. Upon power-up or after reset, the display defaults
to sun and clouds. The barometer requires 24 hours of trending without power-down or
reset to reflect the actual weather in an area. Weather forecasting with pressure trending
alone is about 70% to 75% accurate. The barometer also displays low batteries, as they
tend to get low. For safety’s sake, the mercury barometer on this system has been
changed to a digital barometer.
3. Equipment and materials
- Hampden MODEL H-6535 Hydrostatics Bench
- Digital barometer (refer to Figure 1-2)
4. Procedure
Step 1. Insert four (4) AA batteries in the case behind the digital barometer. Within 3
seconds, it should show temperature in the upper left corner; relative humidity is in the
upper right. Below that is the weather prediction and pressure trending are under that.
Barometer pressure is shown at the bottom.
Step 2. Find the selection buttons on the back, above the battery pack. They are “UP”,
“DOWN”, “ALT”, “HIST”, Barometric Pressure Scale Selection, and Temperature Scale
Selection.
Step 3. With the barometric pressure switch in the upper right corner slid to its left,
observe the display. Pressure will be shown in mb/hpa. Slide the switch to the right and
observe the pressure display in inches Hg.
Step 4. Find the temperature scale select switch in the lower right. With the switch slid to
the left, observe the display. Temperature will be displayed in _C. Slide the switch to the
right. Temperature will be in °F.
Step 5. Press the “HIST” button once. The relative humidity sample taken one hour ago
will replace the current value at the bottom of the display. The one (1) hour indication
will be shown in the box to the left of it. Press it again and the value two (2) hours back
will be displayed with a “2” in the box. Each time the “HIST” button is pressed, it will
increment one (1) hour back up to 24 hours, and display the value taken at that time.
Pressing it again brings it back to the current setting. This is verified by a zero in the box.
If “– – – –” is displayed, it means it hasn’t run long enough to have sampled that far back.
Step 6. The “ALT” button works in conjunction with the “UP/DOWN” arrow buttons.
Pressing the “ALT” button for 2 seconds changes the relative humidity display to the last
selected altitude. Pressing the “UP” or “DOWN” button raises or lowers the altitude in
10-meter increments. Pressing the “ALT” button again returns the relative humidity
display and saves the data. The “ALT” will flash above the box for 15 minutes, until a
new sample is taken, and the pressure reading is compensated for the new altitude.
Step 7. Press “ALT” and “RESET” together and the bar chart on the display changes to a
line chart. Press “RESET”, and it returns to a bar chart. In either case, the barometer is
reset, and all recorded data is lost.
5. Data
Density Height of the fluid
Fluid kg
( 3) Meters (m) Centimeter (cm) Inches (in)
m
Mercury 13600 0.758 75.8 29.843
Water 999 10.306 1030.6 405.748
Milk 1027 10.025 1002.5 394.685
Ethyl alcohol 789 13.049 1304.9 513.740
Density
Height of the fluid Fluid type
(m) (Kg/m3)
10.0059 1030.005 Seawater
11.3006 911.998 SAE 30 oil
15.1561 679.998 Gasoline
Values:
2
Patm 101000 N/m
2
Gravity: 9.8 m/s
6. Analysis and Discussion
1. What is a barometer used for?
A barometer is a device used to measure the pressure of the atmosphere.
2. What are the features of this digital barometer?
The Digital Barometer has many features, it could indicate the weather forecast in a
small digital image, it can tell if the day is sunny or rainy, it has a thermometer it can
measure temperature in F or C, it can measure the pressure atm as the Barometric
Pressure, and many other features, the best of all is that digital barometers are pocket-
size so you can take it everywhere.
3. What does the “HIST” button do?
The Hist button is pressed a cursor marks a pressure on the curve in the chart, giving
the corresponding time and pressure. You can explore air pressure with the buttons of
+ and -
4. a. How do you change from a bar chart to a line chart on the display?
Depending the barometer model, we could have the chrt button where you can change
the type of graphic on the display by just pressing that button.
b. How do you return to a bar chart?
If you want the first chart that appeared in the basic display just press again the chrt
button. We can see that many barometers have this easy function like if you want to
display a compass or the sea level we are.
5. References
www.nationalgeographic.org >Education>Barometer>Earth Science,
Meteorologist
https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=9555
6. Appendices
