Boyle’s Law – Definition, Formula, Example

This entry was posted on by (updated on )
Boyle's Law
Boyle’s law states that the pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume, assuming constant mass and temperature.

Boyle’s law or Mariotte’s law states that pressure of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to volume under conditions of constant mass and temperature. When the gas volume increases, pressure decreases. When the volume decreases, pressure increases. Boyle’s law takes its name from chemist and physicist Robert Boyle, who published the law in 1862.

Boyle’s law states that the absolute pressure of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to its volume under conditions of constant mass and temperature.

Boyle's Law describes the relationship between pressure and volume of a gas when mass and temperature are held constant. (NASA)
Boyle’s Law describes the relationship between pressure and volume of a gas when mass and temperature are held constant. (NASA)

Boyle’s Law Formula

There are three common formulas for Boyle’s law:

P ∝ 1/V
PV = k
P1V1 = P2V2

P is absolute pressure, V is volume, and k is a constant.

Graphing Boyle’s Law

This is a graph of Boyle's original data, leading to the formulation of Boyle's Law. Marc Lagrange, Wikipedia Commons
This is a graph of Boyle’s original data, leading to the formulation of Boyle’s Law. Marc Lagrange, Wikipedia Commons

The graph of volume versus pressure has a characteristic downward curved shape that shows the inverse relationship between pressure and volume. Boyle used the graph of experimental data to establish the relationship between the two variables.

History

Richard Towneley and Henry Power described the relationship between the pressure and volume of a gas in the 17th century. Robert Boyle experimentally confirmed their results using a device constructed by his assistant, Robert Hooke. The apparatus consisted of a closed J-shaped tube. Boyle poured mercury into the tube, decreasing the air volume and increasing its pressure. He used different amounts of mercury, recording air pressure and volume measurements, and graphed the data. Boyle published his results in 1662. Sometimes the gas law is called the Boyle-Mariotte law or Mariotte’s law because French physicist Edme Mariotte independently discovered the law in 1670.

Examples of Boyle’s Law in Everyday Life

There are examples of Boyle’s law in everyday life:

  • The bends: A diver ascends to the water surface slowly to avoid the bends. As a diver rises to the surface, the pressure from the water decreases, which increases the volume of gases in the blood and joints. Ascending too quickly allows these gases to form bubbles, blocking blood flow and damaging joints and even teeth.
  • Air bubbles: Similarly, air bubbles expand as they rise up a column of water. If you have a tall glass, you can watch bubble expand in volume as pressure decreases. One theory about why ships disappear in the Bermuda Triangle relates to Boyle’s law. Gases released from the seafloor rise and expand so much that they essentially become a gigantic bubble by the time they reach the surface. Small boats fall into the bubbles and are engulfed by the sea.
  • Deep-sea fish: Deep-sea fish die if you bring them up to the surface. As outside pressure drops, the volume of gas within their swim bladder increases. Essentially, the fish blow up or pop.
  • Syringe: Depressing the plunger on a sealed syringe decreases the air volume inside it and increases its pressure. Similarly, if you have a syringe containing a small amount of water and pull back on the plunger, the volume of air increases, but it’s pressure decreases. The pressure drop is enough to boil the water within the syringe at room temperature.
  • Breathing: The diaphragm expands the volume of the lungs, causing a pressure drop that allows outside air to rush into the lungs (inhalation). Relaxing the diaphragm reduces the volume of the lungs, increasing the gas pressure within them. Exhaling occurs naturally to equalize pressure.

Boyle’s Law Example Problem

For example, calculate the final volume of a balloon if it has a volume of 2.0 L and pressure of 2 atmospheres and the pressure is reduced to 1 atmosphere. Assume temperature remains constant.

P1V1 = P2V2
(2 atm)(2.0 L) = (1 atm)V2
V2 = (2 atm)(2.0 L)/(1 atm)
V2 = 4.0 L

It’s a good idea to check your work to make sure the answer makes sense. In this example, the balloon pressure decreased by a factor of two (halved). The volume increased and doubled. This is what you expect from an inverse proportion relationship.

Most of the time, homework and test questions require reasoning rather than math. For example, if volume increases by a factor of 10, what happens to pressure? You know increasing volume decreases pressure by the same amount. Pressure decreases by a factor of 10.

See another Boyle’s law example problem.

References

  • Fullick, P. (1994). Physics. Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-435-57078-1.
  • Holton, Gerald James (2001). Physics, The Human Adventure: From Copernicus to Einstein and Beyond. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-2908-0.
  • Tortora, Gerald J.; Dickinson, Bryan (2006). ‘Pulmonary Ventilation’ in Principles of Anatomy and Physiology (11th ed.). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 863–867.
  • Walsh, C.; Stride, E.; Cheema, U.; Ovenden, N. (2017). “A combined three-dimensional in vitro–in silico approach to modelling bubble dynamics in decompression sickness.” Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 14(137). doi:10.1098/rsif.2017.0653
  • Webster, Charles (1965). “The discovery of Boyle’s law, and the concept of the elasticity of air in seventeenth century”. Archive for the History of Exact Sciences. 2(6) : 441–502.