PURPOSE: To demonstrate Boyle's law.

DESCRIPTION: Connect the piston tube to the pressure gauge. Read off several values of pressure and volume for different piston positions to show that PV=constant.

The photographs above show the pressure in the tube for volumes of 10cc, 20cc and 30cc respectively.

SUGGESTIONS: Plot a graph of P vs V to show that the curve is a hyperbola.

REFERENCES: (PIRA 4E20.20) See Index of /~history/Mathematicians: Robert Boyle for a nice biography.

EQUIPMENT: Commercial Boyle's Law apparatus on overhead projector.

SETUP TIME: None.