What is Boyles Law?
One variation of the gas law which states that pressure and volume are inversely related at constant temperature. That is, at a constant temperature, pressure and volume will “compensate” for each. This makes sense: High pressure leads to small volume; conversely, low pressure leads to high volume.
Boyle’s law is a basic law in chemistry describing the behavior of an ideal gas under a constant temperature. An ideal gas is a perfectly pure gas undergoing perfect elastic collisions with its container. No such gas actually exists, but real gases behave closely enough to ideal gases that we can use theories applying to the latter to describe the former. Boyle’s law states that the volume of a gas is inversely proportional to the pressure applied to it. In other words, the pressure of a gas times its volume is a constant. It is not necessary to know the exact value of this constant to meaningfully understand the behavior of gases. The law was discovered by Robert Boyle in 1662. The standard measurements for volume and pressure are cubic meters and pascals (or atmospheres). One obvious example of Boyle’s law in action is in a syringe. In a syringe, the volume of a fixed amount of gas is increased by drawing the handle back, thereby lessening the pressure. The blood in a vein has higher
Asked by: Lance Boswell Answer Boyle’s Law simply describes the relationship between the pressure and volume of an enclosed gas when Temperature remains constant. That relationship, usually expressed as P1V1 = P2V2, just means that the product of pressure x volume remains unchanged as either or both are changed. Since pressure x volume remains constant, for example, doubling the pressure on an enclosed gas will reduce its volume to 1/2 its previous size. Tripling the pressure will reduce its volume to 1/3, and so on. Alternatively, if you double the volume available to an enclosed gas, pressure is halved. The simplest demonstration of Boyle’s Law is a hand bicycle pump. By pushing down on the piston, the reduced volume increases the pressure of the air inside so that it is forced into the tire. Because pressure changes will have an affect on temperature (feel the pump after a few seconds of pumping), temperature must be allowed to return to its prior value for Boyle’s Law to hold true.
