Boyles Law The Pressure-Volume Relationship

An inflated weather balloon released at Earth s surface expands as it rises ( FIGURE 10.5) because the pressure of the atmosphere decreases with increasing elevation. Thus, for our first pressure-volume relationship we can use our experience with balloons to say that gas volume increases as the pressure exerted on the gas decreases. 

British chemist Robert Boyle (1627—1691) first investigated the relationship between the pressure of a gas and its volume, using a J-shaped tube like that shown in T FIGURE 10.6. In the tube on the left, a quantity of gas is trapped above a column of mercury. Boyle then changed the pressure on the gas by adding mercury to the tube. He found that the volume of the gas decreased as the pressure increased. For example, doubling the pressure caused the gas volume to decrease to half its original value. 

What is the total pressure on the gas after the 760 mm Hg has been added  

A FIGURE 10,6 Boyle s experiment relating pressure and voiume for a gas. 

What would a plot of P versus 1/1/ look like for a fixed quantity of gas at a fixed temperature  

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