If 18 L of a gas at room temperature exerts a pressure of 36 kPa on its container, what pressure will the gas exert if the container's volume changes to 14 L?

1 Answer
Dec 27, 2016

The gas will exert a pressure of 46.3 kPa.

Explanation:

We can obtain the final pressure via Boyle's Law:

http://slideplayer.com/slide/698879/http://slideplayer.com/slide/698879/

Let's identify the known and unknown variables:

color(green)("Knowns:")
- Initial Volume
- Final Volume
- Initial Pressure

color(magenta)("Unknowns:")
- Final Pressure

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= (36kPa xx 18cancel"L")/(14\cancel"L") = 46.3 kPa