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Evangelista Torricelli

 
Evangelista Torricelli

 
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Evangelista Torricelli
 
 
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Evangelista Torricelli (; October 15, 1608 – October 25, 1647) was an Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 physicist
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 and mathematician
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
, best known for his invention of the barometer
Barometer

A barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure. It can measure the pressure exerted by the atmosphere by using water, air, or mercury ....
.

Contributions to physics
Barometer
Torricelli's chief invention was the barometer, which arose from solving an important practical problem. Pumpmakers of the Grand Duke of Tuscany attempted to raise water to a height of 12 meters or more, but found that 10 meters was the limit to which it would rise in the suction pump.






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Encyclopedia


Evangelista Torricelli (; October 15, 1608 – October 25, 1647) was an Italian
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 physicist
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 and mathematician
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
, best known for his invention of the barometer
Barometer

A barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure. It can measure the pressure exerted by the atmosphere by using water, air, or mercury ....
.

Contributions to physics


Barometer


Torricelli's chief invention was the barometer, which arose from solving an important practical problem. Pumpmakers of the Grand Duke of Tuscany attempted to raise water to a height of 12 meters or more, but found that 10 meters was the limit to which it would rise in the suction pump. Torricelli thought to employ mercury
Mercury (element)

Mercury , also called quicksilver or hydrargyrum , is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. A heavy, silvery d-block metal, mercury is one of six elements that are liquid at or near room temperature and pressure....
, fourteen times as heavy as water. In 1643 he created a tube c. 1 meter long, sealed at the top end, filled it with mercury, and set it vertically into a basin of mercury. The column of mercury fell to about 76cm, leaving a Torricellian vacuum above. As we now know, the column's height fluctuated with changing atmospheric pressure
Atmospheric pressure

Atmospheric pressure is sometimes defined as the force per unit area exerted against a surface by the weight of air above that surface at any given point in the Earth's atmosphere....
; this was the first barometer. This discovery has perpetuated his fame, and the torr
Torr

The torr is a non-International System of Units unit of pressure defined as 1/760 of an Atmosphere . It was named after Evangelista Torricelli, an Italian physicist and mathematician who discovered the principle of the barometer in 1644....
, a unit of pressure
Pressure

Pressure is the force per unit area applied to an object in a direction surface normal to the surface. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure....
, was named in his honor.

Torricelli's Law


Torricelli also discovered Torricelli's Law
Torricelli's Law

Torricelli's law, also known as Torricelli's theorem, is a theorem in fluid dynamics relating the speed of fluid flowing out of an opening to the height of fluid above the opening....
, regarding the speed of a fluid flowing out of an opening, which was later shown to be a particular case of Bernoulli's principle
Bernoulli's principle

In fluid dynamics, Bernoulli's principle states that for an inviscid flow, an increase in the speed of the fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure or a decrease in the fluid's potential energy....
.

Cause of wind


Torricelli gave the first scientific description of the cause of wind
WIND

The Global Geospace Science WIND satellite is a NASA science spacecraft launched at 04:31:00 EST on November 1, 1994 from launch pad 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Merritt_Island%2C_Florida, Florida aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta II 7925-10 rocket....
:

Italian Submarines


Several Italian Navy submarines were named after Evangelista Torricelli

  • A Micca class submarine, built in 1918, stricken in 1930
  • An Archimede' class submarine
    Archimede class submarine

    The Archimede class were a group of submarines built for the Regia Marina in the early 1930's. The boats fought in the Spanish Civil War and in World War II....
     (1934), transferred to Spain in 1937 and renamed     General Mola, sriken in 1959
  • A 'Benedetto Brin class submarine
    Brin class submarine

    The Brin class submarines were five Italian submarines that served in the Regia Marina during World War II. All ships were built by Tosi. Two boats were replacements for Archimede class submarines secretly transferred to the Falanges during the Spanish Civil Warin 1937....
     (1937), sunk in the Red Sea by the British Navy in 1940
  • Evangelista Torricelli , the former USS Lizardfish
    USS Lizardfish (SS-373)

    USS Lizardfish , a Balao class submarine submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the lizardfish, a slender marine fish having a scaly lizardlike head and large mouth....
    , transferred to Italy in 1960 and decommisssioned in 1976


Selected works

His manuscripts are preserved at Florence, Italy. The following have appeared in print:

  • Trattato del moto (before 1641)
  • Opera geometrica (1644)
  • Lezioni accademiche (printed 1715)
  • Esperienza dell'argento vivo (Berlin, 1897).


See also

  • Torricelli's Equation
    Torricelli's equation

    Torricelli's equation is an equation created by Evangelista Torricelli to find the final velocity of an object moving with a constant acceleration without having a known time interval....
  • Torricelli/Fermat point
    Fermat point

    In geometry the Fermat point of a triangle, also called Torricelli point, is the solution to the problem of finding a point such that the total distance from the three vertices of the triangle to the point is the minimum possible....
  • Gabriel's horn
    Gabriel's Horn

    Gabriel's Horn is a figure invented by Evangelista Torricelli which has infinity surface area, but finite volume. The name refers to the tradition identifying the Gabriel with the angel who blows the horn to announce Judgment Day, associating the infinite with the divine....