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There is a legend of a Dutch boy who bravely held back the whole Atlantic Ocean by plugging a hole in a dike with his finger. Is this possible and reasonable? Estimate the force if the hole were about 1.5 square centimeter in area and 1.8 meter below the water level.

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Calculate the water pressure at that depth. It is only about 0.2 atmospheres above atmospheric pressure. The force that the finger would have apply is that times the hole area.
2*10^4 N/m^2 * 1.5*10^-4 m^2 = 3 newtons, which is less than one pound of force.
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