About

Medical professionals and meteorologists operate on slightly different pressure scales. While blood pressure is universally recorded in millimeters of mercury (mmHg), scientific protocols and modern respiratory equipment often utilize the SI unit, kilopascals (kPa). A clear understanding of this conversion is vital for interpreting arterial blood gas results or calibrating barometric sensors.

This utility offers two distinct modes. "Medical Mode" simplifies outputs for clinical charting, while "Scientific Mode" retains full floating-point precision for atmospheric physics. It strictly adheres to the standard definition where standard atmosphere (1 atm) equals 101.325 kPa and 760 mmHg, providing a conversion factor of approximately 0.1333.

Formulas

The Kilopascal is an SI derived unit, while mmHg depends on the density of mercury.

P_kPa = P_mmHg × 0.133322

Exact Standard:

1 atm = 101.325 kPa = 760 mmHg

Reference Data

Pressure (mmHg)	Pressure (kPa)	Medical/Environmental Context
0	0	Total Vacuum
40	5.33	Standard Capillary Pressure
80	10.66	Normal Diastolic BP
120	16.00	Normal Systolic BP
140	18.66	Hypertension Warning
760	101.325	Standard Atmosphere (1 atm)
800	106.66	High Pressure System

Frequently Asked Questions

A standard reading of 120/80 mmHg translates to approximately 16.0/10.7 kPa.

Strictly speaking, yes. The definition of mmHg depends on the density of mercury at 0°C. However, for general medical and meteorological purposes, the standard factor 0.133322 is used regardless of ambient temperature.

The ISO 80000 standard recommends SI units (kPa) for all physiological measurements. Many modern ventilators and anesthesia machines display airway pressure in kPa or cmH2O.

Scientific mode uses the factor derived from 101325/760, offering precision suitable for analytical chemistry and physics calculations.