The kilopascal (kPa) is a multiple of the pascal (Pa; 1 kPa = 1000 Pa); The pascal is a unit of measurement of pressure. Pressure is a physical magnitude that expresses the force exerted on a surface. Therefore, the units of pressure will be those of a force per unit area. The pascal is a unit of the International System of Units (SI) and is defined as the force exerted by 1 newton on a surface of 1 square meter.
The name of this unit of pressure has been assigned in honor of Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician and physicist who lived between 1623 and 1662.
Another unit of pressure is the bar, also a unit of the International System of Units that is equivalent to 100,000 Pa. The atmosphere is also a unit of pressure, defined as the mean atmospheric pressure at sea level; 1 atmosphere is equivalent to 101325 Pa. The torr is another unit of pressure named after the Italian physicist and mathematician Evangelista Torricelli. The torr is also called mmHg (millimeters of mercury), due to the experience with which Torricelli measured atmospheric pressure as the weight of a column of mercury, a column that measures 760 mm at sea level. The equivalence with the pascal is 1 Pa = 133.32 torr.
Sources
Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, 2021.
IUPAC Gold Book, Standard Pressure .
