To understand how quadrupling the pressure could change the gas volume, we can refer to Boyle's Law, which states that the volume of a given amount of gas is inversely proportional to its pressure, as long as the temperature remains constant.
Boyle's Law can be expressed mathematically as follows:
Pโ * Vโ = Pโ * Vโ
Where Pโ and Vโ represent the initial pressure and volume, while Pโ and Vโ represent the final pressure and volume.
In this case, let's assume that the initial pressure (Pโ) is P, and the initial volume (Vโ) is V. Quadrupling the pressure means that the final pressure (Pโ) will be 4P.
Using the equation above, we can rewrite it as:
P * V = (4P) * Vโ
Simplifying the equation, we get:
Vโ = V / 4
So, when the pressure is quadrupled, the gas volume is reduced to one-fourth (or 25%) of its initial volume.
To summarize, quadrupling the pressure on a gas, while keeping the temperature constant, will cause the gas volume to decrease to one-fourth of its original volume.