At constant temperature, doubling the pressure on a fixed mass of gas will
- A. double its volume
- B. halve its volume
- C. leave the volume unchanged
- D. quadruple its volume
Explanation
Boyle's law states that pressure and volume are inversely proportional at constant temperature, so the product PV stays constant and doubling one halves the other. A graph of P against V is a hyperbola, while P against one over V is a straight line. This is why a syringe becomes hard to compress further as the volume shrinks.