Isobar

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The word isobar derives from the two ancient Greek words, ισος (isos), meaning 'equal', and βαρος (baros), meaning 'weight'.

• In meteorology, an isobar is a line of equal or constant pressure on a graph, plot, or map; an isopleth of pressure. In meteorology, the pressures shown are reduced to sea level, not the surface pressures at the map locations. The distribution of isobars is closely related to the magnitude and direction of the wind field, and can be used to predict future weather patterns.

• In nuclear physics, two nuclides with the same mass number are called isobars. For example, boron-12 and carbon-12 are isobars.

• Isobar has also occasionally been used as a synonym for a heat pipe.

• Isobar is the title of a 2007 science fiction film.

[edit] Uses in News

An isobar is very commonly used in news weather reporting. The isobar is the line that usually makes a circle around a centrepoint. This shows how the pressure is either increasing or decreasing the further away from this centrepoint.

[edit] See also

• Isosurface
• Isobaric process

Two varieties of the same element of different atomic masses are isotopes, not isobars. Isotones are nuclides with equal numbers of neutrons. A nuclide in an excited state (i.e., containing more energy, but with no change in number of protons and neutrons) is a nuclear isomer. In chemistry two molecules with the same formula are known as isomers.

[edit] External links

• National Science Digital Library - Isobar
• Drawing Contour Plots. A lesson plan that deals with drawing various isopleths including isobars.