Substances can be analyzed and identified according to their physical and chemical properties. Chemical properties are related to the ability of a substance to transform itself into another. The physical properties are those that are analyzed and collected without changing the material composition. Some examples of physical properties are: mass, volume, temperature, density, melting point, melting point. boiling, physical state (solid, liquid and gas) and organoleptic properties such as color, smell, flavor and toughness.
Physical properties can be classified according to the amount of sample into two categories:
1. Intensive properties:Are those that do not depend on the mass of the sample;
For example, the temperature it is an intensive property, as imagine that we put water to boil. If we are going to measure the water temperature, the value will be the same regardless of whether we place the thermometer directly in the pan with water or if we place it in a glass with a little of this water.
THE density is another intensive property. For example, the density of an ice cube and an iceberg is the same (0.92 g/cm3, at temperatures below 0°C at sea level), which is lower than that of water (1.0 g/cm3, under a temperature of approximately 4ºC and under pressure at sea level, which is equal to 1.0 atm). Therefore, both an ice cube and an iceberg float on water.
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2. Extensive properties:They are those that depend on the mass (“extent”) of the sample.
O volume is an example of extensive property, as the mass of 1 kg of cotton will occupy a much larger volume than the mass of 1 g of the same material.
The energy released in combustion is also extensive, as the energy released in burning a matchstick is much less than the energy released in burning several branches in a fire.
Interestingly, density, an intensive property, is a quotient of extensive properties: volume and mass:
Density = pasta
volume
Density is invariable, even with the change in sample quantity, because the volume is extensive. Thus, when mass increases, volume increases proportionately or vice versa. This is why density is an intensive property.
By Jennifer Fogaça
Graduated in Chemistry
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FOGAÇA, Jennifer Rocha Vargas. "Intensive and extensive properties"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/quimica/propriedades-intensivas-extensivas.htm. Accessed on July 27, 2021.
