Topic 10-4 Boyle’s Law

Boyle's law is a special case of the ideal gas law. This law applies only to ideal
gases held at a constant temperature, allowing only the volume and pressure to
change.

Boyle's Law Formula

Boyle's law is expressed as:
Pi Vi = Pf Vf
where
Pi = initial pressure
Vi = initial volume
Pf = final pressure
Vf = final volume

Because the temperature and the amount of gas don't change, these terms don't
appear in the equation.

What Boyle's law means is that the volume of a mass of gas

is inversely proportional to its pressure. This linear relationship between
pressure and volume means doubling the volume of a given mass of gas decreases
its pressure by half.

Note: It is important to remember the units for initial and final conditions are
the same. Do not start with pounds and cubic inches for initial pressure and
volume units and expect to find pascals and liters without converting the units
first.

There are two other common ways to express the formula for Boyle's law.

According to this law, at a constant temperature, the product of pressure and

volume is a constant:

PV = c

or

P ∝ 1/V
Boyle's Law
Example Problem 10-3-1
A 1 L volume of a gas is at a pressure of 20 atm. A valve allows the gas to flow into a 12 L
container, connecting the two containers. What is the final pressure of this gas?

A good place to start this problem is to write out the formula for Boyle's law and identify which
variables you know and which remain to be found.

The formula is:

P1V1 = P2V2

You know: Given

Initial pressure P1 = 20 atm

Initial volume V1 = 1 L
final volume V2 = 1 L + 12 L = 13 L
final pressure P2 = variable to find

P1V1 = P2V2

Dividing both sides of the equation by V2 gives you:

P1V1 / V2 = P2

Filling in the numbers:

(20 atm) (1 L)/ (13 L) = final pressure

final pressure = 1.54 atm

Example Problem No. 10-3-2

A 1.50 L sample of methane gas exerts a pressure of 1650 mm Hg. What is the final pressure if
the volume changes to 7.00 L?

Given: V1 = 1.50 L V2 = 7.00 L P1 = 1650 mmHg.

Solution:

P1 x (V1 / V2) = P2 1650 mm Hg x 1.50 L/7.00 L = 354 mm Hg

P2 = 354 mm Hg

Therefore: The volume increased and the pressure decreased as we expected.