Forces and Pressure

The effect of a force spread over an area.

If you want to apply force to the ground, you can stand on the ground. The force is your own weight pressing downwards on solid ground. Usually, You cannot see the effect of this but in the snow you can, you will leave your own footprints. You might sink up to your knees if you stand on deep, soft snow. If you can spread your weight over a larger area, it may prevent you from sinking easily. This is the reason why people like to wear snowshoes. The snowshoes can spread their weight all over a large area. The pressure, which is on the snow, is lesser with the snowshoes on than without, So the pressure is the force divided by the area on which it is acting on.

Pressure =Force/Area

Newton per square metro is the standard unit of pressure. This unit is also called Pascal (pa).