Question

A gas confined to a piston is subjected to a pressure that is THREE TIMES as great as the initial pressure. How does the volume evolve given constant temperature?

Answer 1

Should not the volume REDUCE to a third of the original volume?

Explanation:

Old Boyle's Law holds that `PV=k` at constant temperature and constant amount of gas......

And thus `P_1V_1=P_2V_2`..................given that we describe a piston containing the SAME amount of gas.........

And if we solve for `V_2=(P_1V_1)/P_2=(P_1V_1)/(3P_1)=1/3*V_1` (because we specify that `P_2=3xxP_1`).

Does this make sense intuitively, given that we compress a gas at constant temperature?