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Five gas laws are commonly used in the General Chemistry courses at Eastfield College. They are Boyle’s Law, Charles’ Law, Gay-Lussac’s Law, The Combined Gas Law, and the Ideal Gas Law. This handout is a guide to help you understand how they are defined and also how they work. Each Law will be defined and you will be given an example for each.
Boyle’s Law (Pressure-Volume Law) – The volume of a gas is inversely proportional to the pressure at a constant temperature.
In layman terms this means that when the pressure increases the volume decreases and when the pressure decreases the volume increases.
To look at the problem mathematically it would look like this:
P1V1 = P2V2
An example of this gas law would read. A gas is under a pressure of 760 torr (mmHg) and occupies a volume of 525 ml. If the pressure were doubled, what volume would the gas now occupy?
P1 - 760 torr (mmHg)
V1 – 525 ml
P2 -1520 torr (mmHg)
V2 - ?
(760 torr) (525 ml) = (1520 torr) V2
(760 torr) (525 ml) = V2
1520 torr
V2 = 262.5 ml
A phrase that I use to help me remember this law is: Boyle’s are Very Painful