Boyle's law

American  

noun

Thermodynamics.

1. the principle that, for relatively low pressures, the pressure of an ideal gas kept at constant temperature varies inversely with the volume of the gas.

---

Boyle's law British  

noun

1. the principle that the pressure of a gas varies inversely with its volume at constant temperature

---

Boyle's law Scientific  

/ boilz /

1. The principle that the volume of a given mass of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to its pressure, as long as temperature remains constant. Boyle's law is a subcase of the ideal gas law.

2. Compare Charles's law

---

Etymology

Origin of Boyle's law

Named after R. Boyle

Example Sentences

“According to Boyle’s law, if the temperature doesn’t change, pressure and volume are inversely correlated, which means that pressure changes in the environment can cause expansion or contraction of air-space cavities in the body.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 17, 2024

The gas therefore becomes less compressible at these high pressures, and although its volume continues to decrease with increasing pressure, this decrease is not proportional as predicted by Boyle’s law.

From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019

For example, Boyle’s law, which links a gas’s pressure and volume, is often known in France as Mariotte’s law, after seventeenth century physicist Edme Mariotte, who discovered it independently of Anglo-Irish Robert Boyle.

From Nature • Oct. 29, 2018

Boyle’s law describes the relationship between volume and pressure in a gas at a constant temperature.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

But the crucial modern inventions depend on prior scientific discoveries: in the case of the steam engine, Boyle’s law.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton