Boyle's, Charles' and Gay-Lussac's Laws Explained

There are several gas laws found at Gas Laws, from Wikipedia the free encyclopedia that include Boyle's Law, Charles's Law, and Gay -Lussac's Law. These gas laws five us physical relationships between pressure, volume, and temperature.

Boyle's law states the following: p₁v₁=p₂v₂ under conditions of constant temperature. The variables can be defined as follows: p₁ is the initial pressure, v1 is the initial volume, p₂ is the final pressure, and v₂ is the final volume. If the pressure increases (p₂ is bigger than p₁), then the volume must decrease (v₂ is less than v₁). The values on both sides of the equation are equal.So, if p2 quantity increases on the right side, v2 must decrease on the right side of the equation So, pressure and volume are inversely related. When one quantity increases, then the other decrease. When one quantity decreases, then the other increases.

An example of Boyle's Law is squeezing a balloon. By squeezing a balloon the volume is decreased and the pressure increased, possibly resulting in an exploding balloon!

Another example using Boyle's Law involves breathing; initially your lungs expand resulting in an increase in volume. The volume increase in the lungs results in a pressure drop. The atmospheric pressure is now greater than the pressure in the lungs, so air rushes in. Your lungs then contract, resulting in a decrease in volume. The decrease in volume results in a pressure increase in the lungs. Now, the air pressure in the lungs is greater than atmospheric pressure, so air moves out of the lungs. The temperature of the gas does increase in the body and decreases when leaving the body. The effect is relatively minimal when compared to the lung's volume changes, so it can be ignored to give us nice approximation.

Charles's law states that v₁/t₁=v₂/t₂ under constant pressure. The variables can be defined as follows: v₁ is the initial volume, t₁ is the initial temperature, v₂ is the final volume, and t₂ is the final temperature. So, increasing the temperature results in a volume increase. Think of a hot air balloon. When hot air moves into the balloon it expands and rises.

Gay-Lussac's law states that p₁/t₁=p₂/t₂ under constant volume. The variables can be defined as follows: p₁ is initial pressure, t₁ is initial temperature, p₂ is final pressure, and t₂ is final temperature. If temperature increases then pressure also increases. This explains why on a hot day a plastic bottle of pop left in vehicle can feel very stiff, because of increased pressure in the bottle due to elevated temperature.

All the terms can be combined into one law called the combined gas law p₁v₁/t₁=p₂v₂/t₂.

The gas laws give us a solid relationship between pressure, temperature, and volume. They can be used to explain certain physical phenomena.

Source

Gas Laws, from Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, Wikipedia