Question

A little boy is playing with a plastic water bottle. He blows air into the bottle to make a whistling sound. Then, he wedges a plastic ball into the bottle to make a rattle. But the ball is too big—it gets stuck in the mouth of the bottle! The little boy panics and runs to his big brother for help. Luckily, his older brother just studied the principle of Boyle's law. Based on what he learned, how will he get the ball out of the bottle?

Answer 1

by pushing down on the bottle to increase the air pressure inside the bottle

Step-by-step explanation:

The pressure of a given mass of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to its volume at a constant temperature.

Answer 2

Answer with Explanation:

The "Boyle's Law" is also referred to as the "Mariotte's Law." This law shows the inverse relationship between the pressure of a gas and the volume of a container. This means that if the pressure is increased, the volume will decrease and vice-versa.

In the situation above, the plastic water bottle serves as the container. The little boy blew air into it, making the volume of the container increase. It carried the plastic ball with it, that's why it got stuck.

In order to remove the ball, the older brother will have to apply Boyle's law by compressing the plastic water bottle. His compression will increase the pressure in the container. This will allow the compressed air to rush out, thus moving the stuck ball with it. This will result into decreased volume in the container as well.

This is true, provided that both mass and temperature remain constant.