If you want to solve for the volume of a gas (V2) and P1 is greater than P2, would you expect V2 to be larger or smaller than V1?

 If you want to solve for the volume of a gas (V2) and P1 is greater than P2, would you expect V2 to be larger or smaller than V1?

SOLUTION

V2would be greater than V

${}_1$

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The relevant gas law is Boyle's Law:
For a fixed mass of gas at constant temperature the pressure of the gas is inversely proportional to its volume.

$p\propto \frac{1}{V}$

So if the volume of the gas is increased the gas pressure will decrease.

We can also write the relationship above as $pV=$ constant

so $V_2=\frac{p_1}{p_2}\cdot V_1$

In the case of this question $\frac{p_1}{p_2}$ is larger than 1 so $V_2>V_1$.