Boyle's law
Boyle's Law is one of the
gas laws, and relates the
volume and
pressure of an
ideal gas held at a constant
temperature.
The law, expressed in symbols, is:
- PV = k
Where
V is the
volume of gas,
P is its
pressure, and
k is a constant. The volume is expressed in cubic metres or litres and the pressure in pascals when using
SI units.
To maintain the constant during an increase in pressure of a gas, at fixed temperature, requires that the volume decrease. Conversely, reducing the pressure of the gas increases the volume.
The exact value of the constant need not be known to make use of the law in comparison between two volumes of gas at equal temperature:
- P1V1 = P2V2
Together with the
Law of Charles and Gay-Lussac and
Graham's law, Boyle's law forms
gas laws, which describes the behaviour of an
ideal gas. The three gas laws can be generalized by the
universal gas equation.