Boyle’s Law

Discussant: Jeffrey Flores (Sir Jeff )

 What is Boyle’s Law?
• Boyle’s Law is one of the laws in physics that
concern the behaviour of gases
• When a gas is under pressure it takes up less
space:
• The higher the pressure, the smaller the
volume
• Boyles Law tells us about the relationship
between the volume of a gas and its pressure
at a constant temperature
• The law states that pressure is inversely
proportional to the volume
 How can we write Boyle’s Law as a
formula?

• Pressure is inversely • This is more usually

proportional to the written as:
volume and can be
written as:
• Pressure a 1/volume • Pressure =
constant
P=pressure in N/m2 volume
V=volume in dm3 (litres) • PV=k
k=constant • P1V1=P2V2
 How can we investigate Boyle’s Law?
• When investigating Boyles law a given
volume of gas is sucked into a cylinder
and the end is sealed
• The temperature of the gas is kept
constant
• Using several equal weights we can apply
increasing pressure to the gas
• We can calculate the pressure by dividing
the force applied by the area of the top of
the cylinder
• The volume will be shown on the scale on
the cylinder
Boyle’s Law apparatus
 Below are some results of an experiment

Pressure p Volume V PxV

1.1 40 44

1.7 26

2.2 20

2.6 17

• Calculate pV (pressure x volume) for each set of

results. What do you notice?
 What these experimental results show

• The pressure x volume for each set of

results remains constant
• This is called Boyle’s Law
• For a fixed mass of gas, at constant
temperature, pV = constant or
P1 x V1 = P2 x V2
• Let us look at the results again
Here are the results of the experiment
Pressure p Volume V PxV

1.1 40 44

1.7 26 44

2.2 20 44

2.6 17 44

• Did you notice that if p is doubled, V is halved?

• If p increases to 3 times as much, V decreases to a 1/3rd .
This means:
• Volume is inversely proportional to pressure, or
V1
p
 What sort of graphs would this
data give?
• If we plot volume directly against pressure
we would get a downwards curve showing
that volume gets smaller as the pressure
gets larger, and vice versa.
 Another way of plotting the data
• Curved lines are hard to recognise, so
we plot the volume against the
reciprocal of pressure (ie. 1/p)
• This time the points lie close to a
straight line through the origin.
• This means volume is directly
proportional to 1/pressure or
• volume is inversely proportional to
pressure
This leads us back to Boyle’s
Law

Boyle’s Law: for a fixed mass

of gas kept at constant
temperature the volume of
the gas is inversely
proportional to its pressure.
 Problem:
• A deep sea diver is
working at a depth
where the pressure is
3.0 atmospheres. He is
breathing out air
bubbles. The volume of
each air bubble is 2
cm2. At the surface the
pressure is 1
atmosphere. What is
the volume of each
bubble when it reaches
the surface?
 How we work this out:
• We assume that the temperature is constant, so
Boyle’s Law applies:
• Formula first: P1 x V1 = P2 x V2

• Then numbers:= 1.0 x 2 = 3.0 x V2

• Now rearrange the numbers so that you have V2
on one side, and the rest of the numbers on the
other side of the ‘equals’ symbol.
Here’s what you should have calculated

V2 = 3.0 x 2
1.0

therefore volume of bubbles = 6 cm3

Note that P1 and P2 have the same unit, as will V1 and V2

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Problem #1: A gas occupies 12.3 liters at a
pressure of 40.0 mmHg. What is the volume
when the pressure is increased to 60.0
mmHg?

Problem #2: If a gas at 25.0 °C occupies

3.60 liters at a pressure of 1.00 atm, what
will be its volume at a pressure of 2.50 atm
• Problem #3: To what pressure must a gas
be compressed in order to get into a 3.00
cubic foot tank the entire weight of a gas
that occupies 400.0 cu. ft. at standard
pressure?
• Problem #4: A gas occupies 1.56 L at
1.00 atm. What will be the volume of this
gas if the pressure becomes 3.00 atm?
• Problem #5: A gas occupies 11.2 liters at
0.860 atm. What is the pressure if the
volume becomes 15.0 L

• Problem #6: 500.0 mL of a gas is

collected at 745.0 mmHg. What will the
volume be at standard pressure
• Problem #7: Convert 350.0 mL at 740.0
mmHg to its new volume at standard
pressure.

Problem #8: Convert 338 L at 63.0 atm to

its new volume at standard pressure
• Problem #9: Convert 273.15 mL at 166.0
kPa to its new volume at standard
pressure.
(166.0 kPa) (273.15 mL) = (101.325 kPa) (x)
Problem #10: Convert 77.0 L at 18.0 mmHg
to its new volume at standard pressure.
• (18.0 mmHg) (77.0 L) = (760.0 mmHg) (x)
• Problem #11: When the pressure on a
gas increases, will the volume increase or
decrease?
Volume will decrease.
Problem #12: If the pressure on a gas is
decreased by one-half, how large will the
volume change be?
• It will double in size.
• Problem #13: A gas occupies 4.31 liters at a
pressure of 0.755 atm. Determine the volume if
the pressure is increased to 1.25 atm.
(0.755 atm) (4.31 liters) = (1.25 atm) (x)

Problem #14: 600.0 mL of a gas is at a pressure

of 8.00 atm. What is the volume of the gas at 2.00
atm?
(8.00 atm) (600.0 mL) = (2.00 atm) (x)

Problem #15: 400.0 mL of a gas are under a

pressure of 800.0 torr. What would the volume of
the gas be at a pressure of 1000.0 torr?
• (800.0 torr) (400.0 mL) = (1000.0 torr) (x)