How is a uniformly applied force, acting at right angles to a surface, defined?

A uniformly applied force acting at right angles to a surface is defined as pressure. Pressure is mathematically expressed as the force applied per unit area of the surface. When a force is evenly distributed over a given area, it creates a consistent pressure on that surface.

In the context of refrigeration and thermodynamics, understanding pressure is vital because it influences how refrigerants behave within systems, affecting their state changes (from liquid to gas and vice versa), efficiency in heat exchange, and overall system performance.

Other concepts such as acceleration, weight, and surface area have distinct definitions and applications. Acceleration pertains to the rate of change of velocity of an object, weight refers to the force exerted by gravity on an object’s mass, and surface area is merely a measure of the extent of a surface. While they may intersect conceptually with pressure, they do not directly define the scenario of a uniformly applied force at right angles to a surface.