Why does p1v1=p2v2

The law itself can be stated as follows: for a fixed amount of an ideal gas kept at a fixed temperature, P pressure and V volume are inversely proportional—that is, when one doubles, the other is reduced by half. Remember that these relations hold true only if the number of molecules n and the temperature T are both constant.

In an industrial process, a gas confined to a volume of 1 L at a pressure of 20 atm is allowed to flow into a L container by opening the valve that connects the two containers. What is the final pressure of the gas? Set up the problem by setting up the known and unknown variables. The new pressure P 2 remains unknown. Boundless vets and curates high-quality, openly licensed content from around the Internet. This particular resource used the following sources:. The numerical value of the constant depends on which units the pressure volume and temperature are in.

Since the temperature of a gas is proportional to the square of the rms speed of the molecules, this compression leads to a very noticeable increase in temperature. The overall volume of the object will be bigger. These examples of the effect of temperature on the volume of a given amount of a confined gas at constant pressure are true in general: The volume increases as the temperature increases, and decreases as the temperature decreases. In this case, volume will also decrease.

This means that the volume of a gas is directly proportional to its Kelvin temperature. If the amount of gas in a container is increased, the volume increases. If the amount of gas in a container is decreased, the volume decreases. This is assuming of course that the container has expandible walls. So if the volume increases, the pressure decreases. Because the volume has decreased, the particles will collide more frequently with the walls of the container. More collisions mean more force, so the pressure will increase.

When the volume decreases, the pressure increases. This shows that the pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume. Decreasing the volume of a contained gas will increase its pressure, and increasing its volume will decrease its pressure. In fact, if the volume increases by a certain factor, the pressure decreases by the same factor, and vice versa.

Volume-pressure data for an air sample at room temperature are graphed in Figure 5. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Ben Davis December 25,