What is the term for force per unit of area?

The term for force per unit of area is known as pressure. In physics and engineering, pressure is defined as the amount of force exerted on a surface divided by the area over which that force is distributed. This relationship can be mathematically expressed as:

Pressure (P) = Force (F) / Area (A)

It is typically measured in units such as pascals (Pa) in the International System of Units (SI), or pounds per square inch (psi) in some customary systems.

Understanding pressure is crucial in various applications, including fluid mechanics, hydraulic systems, and gas laws, where it plays a vital role in predicting how fluids behave under different conditions. The other choices—density, volume, and mass—refer to different physical properties that do not relate to the distribution of force over an area. Density, for example, is mass per unit volume, while volume is the three-dimensional space occupied by a substance, and mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object.