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vapor pressure

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noun
the pressure exerted by the molecules of a vapor, especially that part of the total pressure exerted by vapor in a mixture of gases, as by water vapor in air.

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Also called vapor tension.

Origin of vapor pressure

Probably earlier than 1895–1900
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use vapor pressure in a sentence

Scientific definitions for vapor pressure

vapor pressure

The pressure exerted by a vapor on the solid or liquid phase with which it is in equilibrium. At pressures lower than the vapor pressure, more atoms or molecules of the liquid or solid vaporize and escape from the surface of the liquid or solid than are absorbed from the vapor, resulting in evaporation. At the vapor pressure the exchange is equal and there is no net evaporation. Also called evaporation pressure
The pressure exerted by water vapor in the atmosphere.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for vapor pressure

vapor pressure

In physics and chemistry, the atmospheric pressure that would be exerted by any single component of a gas if that component were the only one present. For example, the vapor pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere of the Earth is the pressure that would exist if everything but oxygen were removed. The total atmospheric pressure is the sum of the vapor pressures of all the materials in the atmosphere.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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