Steam digester Torricelli and further developed by German scientist Otto von Guericke with his Magdeburg hemispheres. Guerike's demonstration was documented by Gaspar Schott, in a book that was read by Robert Boyle. Boyle and his assistant Robert Hooke improved Guericke's air pump design and built their own. From this, through various experiments, they formulated what is called Boyle's law, which states that the volume of a body of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to its pressure. Soon the ideal gas law was formulated. Based on these concepts in 1679 a Boyle's associate, named Denis Papin, built a "bone digester", which is
Gas volume of gas was carefully measured as additional mercury was added to the tube. The pressure of the gas could be determined by the difference between the mercury level in the short end of the tube and that in the long, open end. The image of Boyle's Equipment shows some of the exotic tools used by Boyle during his study of gases. Through these experiments, Boyle noted that the pressure exerted by a gas held at a constant temperature varies inversely with the volume of the gas. For example, if the volume is halved, the pressure is doubled; and if