2.25. Boyle’s Law http://www.ck12.org
2.25 Boyle’s Law
- State how popping bubble wrap demonstrates Boyle’s law.
- Explain why pressure goes up when gas molecules crowd into a smaller space.
Are you one of those people who can’t resist popping the bubbles of bubble wrap? As annoying as it might be to the
people around you, do you just love to squeeze those little plastic bubbles? Before the bubbles pop, the air pressing
against the inside of the bubbles inflates them like tiny balloons. When you pop the bubbles, most of the air rushes
out.
Pop Goes the Bubble!
What does popping bubble wrap have to do with science? Actually, it demonstrates an important scientific law,
called Boyle’s law. Like other laws in science, this law describes what always happens under certain conditions.
Boyle’s law is one of three well-known gas laws, which state the relationships among temperature, volume, and
pressure of gases. (The other two gas laws are Charles’ law and Amontons’ law.) According toBoyle’s law, if the
temperature of a gas is held constant, then decreasing the volume of the gas increases its pressure—and vice versa.
That’s what happens when you squeeze the bubbles of bubble wrap. You decrease the bubbles’ volume, so the air
pressure inside the bubbles increases until they pop.
“Father” Boyle
Boyle’s law is named for Robert Boyle, the English scientist who discovered this relationship between gas volume
and pressure. Boyle based the law on his own controlled experiments. He published his results, along with detailed
descriptions of his procedures and observations, in the 1660s. These steps were unheard of in his day. Mainly
because of his careful research and the details he provided about it, Boyle has been called the “father of modern
chemistry.”