If #15 L# of a gas at room temperature exerts a pressure of #8 kPa# on its container, what pressure will the gas exert if the container's volume changes to #3 L#?

1 Answer
Sep 19, 2016

The gas will exert a pressure of #40kPa#

Explanation:

Let's identify the known and unknown variables:

#color(violet)("Knowns:")#
- Initial Volume
- Final Volume
- Initial Pressure

#color(orange)("Unknowns:")#
- Final Pressure

We can obtain the answer using Boyle's Law thescienceclassroom.org

The numbers 1 and 2 represent the initial and final conditions, respectively.

All we have to do is rearrange the equation to solve for the final pressure.

We do this by dividing both sides by #V_2# in order to get #P_2# by itself like this:
#P_2=(P_1xxV_1)/V_2#

Now all we do is plug in the values and we're done!

#P_2= (8kPa xx 15cancel"L")/(3\cancel"L")# = #40kPa#