Boyle’s law

Basic:
1. What are the units of pressure?
2. What are the units of volume?
3. What happens to the pressure of a gas if the volume of the container is increased?
Boyle’s law can be re-written as PV = constant (i.e. the pressure of a gas multiplied by its volume always gives the
same number.
4. Calculate the constant (in unit of Pa m3) for each of the following:
a) P = 0.10 Pa and V = 50 m3
b) P = 20.2 Pa and V = 0.002 m3
5. Calculate the pressure P for each of the following:
a) Constant = 200 Pa m3 and V = 0.15 m3
b) Constant = 550 Pa m3 and V = 0.05 m3
6. Calculate the volume V for each of the following:
a) Constant = 5,200 Pa m3 and P = 100 Pa
b) Constant = 10,800 Pa m3 and P = 240 Pa
Medium:
7. Calculate p1 if:
a) p2 = 120 kPa, V1 = 0.1 m3, V2 = 0.5 m3 b) p2 = 60 kPa, V1 = 2 m3, V2 = 0.5 m3
8. Calculate p2 if:
a) p1 = 10 kPa, V1 = 0.2 m3, V2 = 0.4 m3 b) p1 = 800 kPa, V1 = 0.01 m3, V2 = 0.004 m3
9. Calculate V1 if:
a) p1 = 100 kPa, p2 = 80 kPa, V2 = 0.1 m3 b) p1 = 20 kPa, p2 = 3 kPa, V2 = 0.02 m3
10. Calculate V2 if:
a) p1 = 2 kPa, p2 = 50 kPa, V1 = 10 m3 b) p1 = 40 kPa, p2 = 800 kPa, V1 = 0.05 m3
Hard: Wordy questions & unit conversions needed. Hint: do you need to do the unit conversions?
11. A container of gas has 100 Pa of pressure and a volume of 0.2 m3. The container is then expanded to a
volume of 0.3 m3. Calculate the effect that this would have on the gas pressure, provided that the number of
particles and the temperature of the gas remain the same.
12. Calculate the final pressure in these situations:
a) A sealed container of has at 101,000 Pa expands from a volume of 0.5 m3 to 0.8 m3.
b) A sealed balloon containing helium at 150 kPa is compressed from 1,000
cm3 → m3 ÷ 1,000,000
cm3 to 700 cm3.
13. Calculate the final volume in these situations:
a) A balloon of air, with an initial volume of 500 cm3, is compressed, increasing the pressure from 101 kPa
to 103 kPa.
b) An expandable container of gas is stretched, decreasing the pressure from 201 kPa to 101 kPa. The initial
volume was 1,000 m3.
14. Calculate the initial pressure in these situations:
a) A sealed container of gas is expanded from a volume of 0.4 m3 to 0.6 m3, with a final pressure of 90 kPa.
b) A sealed balloon containing helium is compressed from 1,000 cm3 to 700 cm3. The final pressure was 130
kPa.
15. The photograph shows a scuba diver. She can breathe under water because she carries a cylinder of air on
her back.
a) The molecules in the cylinder move randomly. Describe how these air
molecules exert a pressure on the cylinder.
b) The cylinder contains air at a pressure of 21,000 Pa. The volume of the air
in the cylinder is 15.0 litres. When the valve on the cylinder is opened, the
air expands until its pressure is 100 Pa. What is the new volume of air?