I am not sure if I can "change everyday lives" using a barometer, but a search engine's search reveals a surprising amount of practical and commercial uses for barometers or barometric sensors in general.
To start, here are some articles about every day and practical uses of a barometer:. There are many commercial, business and scientific applications as well. Too many to list here, and outside my main interest of measuring the weather.
An easy read and a favourite is the "A Weather Eye" article. An entertaining read as well.. You can start with that one if you like.
How do Calibration Applications Fit in our Everyday Life?
https://blog.mensor.com/blog/everyday-applications-of-calibrationH.M.S Beagle, Captain Robert Fitzroy and Charles Darwin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_FitzRoyA Weather Eye
https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/a-weather-eyeWhy buy a barometer? - David Burch
https://www.starpath.com/catalog/accessories/why_buy_a_barometer.htmWeather forecasting is of course the most important. The whole history of "weather forecasting" revolves around the barometer.
Maybe we should go back in time and get some historical perspective regarding the first important use of a barometer and see how they were used and what impact the barometer would have had on their daily lives way back then.
Most everyday folks would have no idea that the barometer was directly responsible for creating the term "weather forecasting" in the mid-1800's. Back then, much of the world's economy was based on transport - moving goods from point "A" to point "B". The barometer was invented in the 1640's and at that time sailing ships were the primary engine of growth for the world's economies. Transporting goods by ship was a big deal back then and still is a big deal today.
The existence of sailing ships hundreds of years ago provides us with a clue. In order for a sailing ship to work, it has to have wind. And where does wind come from? I'll leave it to the reader to read the meteorological pages about highs and lows and pressure gradients that create wind. Sailors quickly figured out that wind causes waves and big wind causes big waves- a deadly combination that has sunk many a great ship along with their crew. It's not only a matter of always avoiding wind but finding wind when none is to be found. No wind - no sail.
Once barometers came into being in the 1600's, sailors found out their was a relationship between wind and gale. Do read the barometer.story of Charles Darwin and HMS "Beagle".referenced in the barometer wiki. This is the first practical use of a barometer that I could find.
Back to modern times and just putting it out there - but perhaps barometer's role for hurricane/cyclone tracking might be useful. Needless to say, barometers play a significant safety-critical role.
Tens of millions of people are walking around with barometers in their pockets - maybe someday, all that data might be useful for weather or storm tracking?
Do barometers affect our daily lives by saving them? Yes, of course!, but very few people would know or care to know that pressure sensors probably save many thousands of lives every day.
Outside of weather purposes, the first thing that comes to mind, is that a calibrated pressure sensor will keep you alive in the operating room and later - in the ICU as you are being "ventilated". These things need to be carefully calibrated. Too much air, too little - not a good thing. So yes, barometers can be useful for more things other than weather.
Planes - there are lots of them up in the air at any one time, and keeping them from crashing into the ground or into each other is something that requires a calibrated barometer. Therefore, these flying barometers play an important safety-critical role in aviation. For altimeters to work within a certain safety margin, they must be calibrated. Plus, too, if the cabin in your aircraft suddenly loses pressure, a calibrated pressure sensor may come in handy when you are looking for that oxygen mask. There are also on-engine pressure sensors too.
I think most of us want to extract the best possible performance from their weather equipment - at any price level. And that means verifying that you are receiving the performance that you are paying for. Or obtaining better performance than what the manufacturer has designed.
So checking and verifying sensor performance (calibration) is part of the enjoyment for many of us in this forum but, I suppose, not for all. I guess it is a matter of how much you want to get out of our hobby. So, will the world stop rotating if our sensors aren't set up properly, and we are blissfully unaware that we are uploading bad data to our national weather service? Where is all that barometric data going, how will it be used? Actually I don't know the answer to that question but remember what your Dad said: If you are going to do something - do it well!
What you do with them (or to them). is entirely up to you. Although I do have a personal favourite sensor to write about (OK - I am self-confessed meteorological anorak),
I am sensor agnostic. I don't dislike any weather sensor - I like them all. To me, the point of buying a weather station is to measure the weather. If you are going to measure something accurately, then you need to look after your stuff.
--
