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Intermediate · 2 min

Gas pressure and volume

For a fixed amount of gas at constant temperature, pressure rises when volume decreases. Boyle's law describes this inverse relationship for an ideal gas and approximately for many dilute real gases. If the volume is halved without changing temperature or losing gas, the pressure doubles. If temperature also changes, you cannot use this simple relationship by itself. Always identify which quantities are held constant.

Practice

A fixed gas sample at constant temperature expands to three times its volume. What happens to its pressure?