The atmosphere seems vast, but it is packed close to the ground. Half of its mass lies below about 5.5 km, lower than the top of Everest, and 99% within roughly 30 km. Scaled to the size of the planet, this layer is thinner than the skin of an apple compared to the fruit.
On 27 August 1883, the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa was heard as far away as Rodrigues Island, nearly 4,800 km away. Its pressure wave was picked up by barometers worldwide and circled the globe several times. The tsunamis that followed killed more than 36,000 people.
The deepest known point in the ocean, Challenger Deep, lies roughly 10,900 m below the Pacific surface. Drop Everest in and its summit would still sit about 2 km underwater. Down there, the pressure is more than 1,000 times what you feel at sea level, roughly a tonne pressing on every square centimetre.