Hydrostatic pressure

Okay kiddo, so have you ever filled up a balloon with water and noticed how it gets bigger and bigger? And have you ever noticed how when you push on the balloon, the water squishes around and goes in different directions?

Well, when you fill up that balloon with water, the water is pushing on the sides of the balloon. This pushing force is called pressure. Hydrostatic pressure is just a fancy way of saying pressure that comes from water (or any other liquid).

So, imagine you have a pool of water. The deeper you go in the pool, the more pressure there is. That's because all the water above you is pushing down on you. This pressure is what it feels like when you dive deep underwater and your ears start to hurt.

Hydrostatic pressure is important in many different areas. For example, fish that live deep in the ocean have to deal with huge amounts of hydrostatic pressure. And engineers have to take hydrostatic pressure into account when they design dams or submarines.

So the next time you play with water, try to remember that even that simple balloon of water has this cool thing called hydrostatic pressure!