A gas occupies 50 L at a pressure of 2 atm. What is the volume when the pressure is increased to 10 atm?

1 Answer
May 31, 2017

#10# #"L"#

Explanation:

We're asked to calculate the new volume of a gas when its pressure is increased.

To solve this, we can use the pressure-volume relationship of gases, illustrated by Boyle's law:

#P_1V_1 = P_2V_2#

where

  • #P# is the initial (#"1"#) and final (#"2"#) pressure of the gas, and

  • #V# is the initial (#"1"#) and final (#"2"#) volume of the gas.

Let's plug in our known variables, and rearrange this equation to solve for the final volume, #V_2#:

#V_2 = (P_1V_1)/(P_2) = ((2cancel("atm"))(50"L"))/(10cancel("atm")) = color(red)(10"L"#

Thus, when the pressure of the gas was increased by a factor of #5# (#2"atm"# to #10"atm"#), the volume decreased by a factor of #5# (#50"L"# to #10"L"#).