According to Boyle's Law, as the pressure increases, the volume will ____________, so long as temperature remains constant.

The correct response is that as pressure increases, the volume will decrease, assuming the temperature remains constant. Boyle's Law states that for a given mass of gas at constant temperature, the product of pressure and volume is a constant. This means that when one variable increases, the other must decrease to maintain this constant relationship.

In practical terms, if you were to compress a gas in a sealed container by increasing the pressure (for example, by pushing down on a piston), the volume that the gas occupies will decrease. This inverse relationship is a fundamental principle of gas behavior in physics and is crucial for scientific divers to understand when dealing with gas laws during dives. Knowledge of Boyle's Law is essential for managing buoyancy and avoiding decompression sickness, making this concept particularly pertinent in diving applications.