# Boyle's Law Calculator

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The Boyle's Law Calculator computes the initial and final pressures and volumes based on Boyle's Law equations: P1 • V1 = P2 • V2.  The calculator automatically handles numerous pressure and volume units.

P1 • V1 = P2 • V2

Boyle's law is an experimental gas law that describes how the pressure of a gas tends to decrease as the volume of a gas increases.

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Boyle’s Law states that the volume of a gas varies inversely with its pressure if temperature is held constant.  Boyle's Law describes the relationship of an ideal gas where mass and temperature are kept constant.  Under these conditions, the volume of the gas will vary inversely with the absolute pressure. A restatement of Boyle's Law is:

The absolute pressure exerted by a given mass of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to the volume it occupies if the temperature and amount of gas remain unchanged within a closed system.12

See main Boyle's law for further information.

# Usage

Each of the four equations in this calculator are derived from the simple Boyle's Law relationship P_1* V_1 = P_2*V_2.  Each equation assumes a fixed temperature and fixed amount of gas.

Specifically,

pressure is inversely proportional to volume

## Application

This calculator may assist in many applications where pressure and volume of gas can be measured (excluding the single variable being sought) prior to and after changes in volume or pressure.  However, the gas being measured must remain at a fixed amount and temperature.

Boyle's law models ideal gases.  Most gases behave like ideal gases at moderate pressures and temperatures. However, as improvements in technology permitted higher pressures and lower temperatures to be examined, deviations from the ideal gas behavior were identified.  It was subsequently determined that the relationship between pressure and volume can only be accurately described employing real gas theory.

# References

1. ^ Levine, Ira. N (1978). "Physical Chemistry" University of Brooklyn: McGraw-Hill
2. ^ Ibid., p12