What is the Difference Between Pressure vs Force? - ATM | DigiKey

Force is the measure of a pushing, pulling, or twisting effort exerted on a physical object, while pressure is a measurement of force divided by the surface area it’s exerted on. While they are related, they should not be used interchangeably. Here we will look at the definition of each term and give examples of each to help visualize the difference. If you’d like to learn more about either term, take a look at our videos – How to Convert Different Units of Pressure and How to Convert Different Units of Force – and be sure to utilize DigiKey’s online calculators to convert various units of each.