Boyle's Law states that volume is inversely related to what?

Boyle's Law states that volume is inversely related to what?

• A. Pressure
• B. Temperature
• C. Number of molecules
• D. Volume

Answer: (A)

In Boyle's law, when the amount of gas and its temperature are kept constant, pressure and volume move in opposite directions. If you compress the gas into a smaller volume, the gas molecules collide with the container walls more often, so the pressure rises. If you allow the gas to expand to a larger volume, there are fewer collisions per unit area, and the pressure falls. This inverse relationship means the product of pressure and volume stays constant (PV = constant). So the quantity that is inversely related to volume under these conditions is pressure. Temperature and the number of molecules are the variables held fixed in this scenario, so they don’t describe the inverse relationship here; changing temperature or the amount of gas would invoke other gas laws (like Charles’s or the general ideal gas law).

In Boyle's law, when the amount of gas and its temperature are kept constant, pressure and volume move in opposite directions. If you compress the gas into a smaller volume, the gas molecules collide with the container walls more often, so the pressure rises. If you allow the gas to expand to a larger volume, there are fewer collisions per unit area, and the pressure falls. This inverse relationship means the product of pressure and volume stays constant (PV = constant). So the quantity that is inversely related to volume under these conditions is pressure. Temperature and the number of molecules are the variables held fixed in this scenario, so they don’t describe the inverse relationship here; changing temperature or the amount of gas would invoke other gas laws (like Charles’s or the general ideal gas law).