“P1V1 = P2V2” shows that as the volume increases, the pressure of the gas decreases in proportion, as long as the temperature stays the same. The relationship between pressure and volume was first noticed by mathematician and astronomer Richard Towneley and experimenter Henry Power. Robert Boyle, a chemist and physicist, confirmed the discovery and published the results in 1662. According to science historians, Boyle’s assistant, Robert Hooke, built the experimental rig. The law is based on air, which Boyle thought was a fluid of non-moving particles between tiny, invisible springs. Boyle also thought that air was not a part of the four elements, just one of the essential things needed for life. Boyle used a closed j-shaped tube, and poured mercury in one side as he forced on the other side, and the air contracted under the pressure of the mercury. After repeating the experiment and using different amounts of mercury under controlled conditions, he found that the pressure of gas changes depending on the volume occupied by it. A French physicist named Edme Mariotte also discovered the law, but in 1679, which is why the law is sometimes referred to as the Boyle-Mariotte law. …show more content…
Most gas particles act like ideal gas particles when at reasonable pressure and temperature. The technology of the 1600s couldn’t make high or low temperatures. Now that technology can make bigger temperature changes, differences between the behavior and ideal gas became more and more noticeable. The relationship can now only be correctly described by the real gas theory. The difference is the compressibility factor, the ratio of the molar volume of a gas to the molar volume of an ideal gas at the same pressure and