Artery has a gauge pressure of 10^4 Pa. Why would this be more than atmospheric pressure, which I thought was 10^5 Pa? TBR GChem 2, fluids, passage 3 on pg 96.
Edit - Or are you saying that TBR says artery pressure is higher?
Gauge pressure can get confusing, but it's simple if you remember that you cannot have negative pressure.
I remember this question and was freaking out about it too.
The passage actually says "gauge pressure" for the arterial pressure.
That actually means relative to atmospheric pressure (so 10^4 on top of atm).
Except in the pleural space by the lungs?
it can get confusing when you have to subtract or add the gauge pressure but i think the MCAT would be clear on that
Okay, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't ****ing up the definition. Pgauge is NOT Ptotal, which is Psurface+Patm. Pgauge is proportional to depth, whereas Ptotal is Psurface at the y intercept. I was so thoroughly confused when I got that wrong. "But...10^5 Pa is atmospheric, and this is 10^4 and 10^3....what?!)