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For example, isopropanol and water can be distinguished by the characteristic property of odor. [2] Characteristic properties are used because the sample size and the shape of the substance does not matter. [3] For example, 1 gram of lead is the same color as 100 tons of lead.
Examples of intensive properties include temperature, T; refractive index, n; density, ρ; and hardness, η. By contrast, an extensive property or extensive quantity is one whose magnitude is additive for subsystems. [4] Examples include mass, volume and entropy. [5] Not all properties of matter fall into these two categories.
A definition of "matter" based on its physical and chemical structure is: matter is made up of atoms. [17] Such atomic matter is also sometimes termed ordinary matter. As an example, deoxyribonucleic acid molecules (DNA) are matter under this definition because they are made of atoms.
An intensive property does not depend on the size or extent of the system, nor on the amount of matter in the object, while an extensive property shows an additive relationship. These classifications are in general only valid in cases when smaller subdivisions of the sample do not interact in some physical or chemical process when combined.
An extrinsic property is not essential or inherent to the subject that is being characterized. For example, mass is an intrinsic property of any physical object , whereas weight is an extrinsic property that depends on the strength of the gravitational field in which the object is placed.
A property having a fixed value for a given material or substance is called material constant or constant of matter. [1] (Material constants should not be confused with physical constants, that have a universal character.) A material property may also be a function of one or more independent variables, such as temperature.
Chemical properties can be contrasted with physical properties, which can be discerned without changing the substance's structure. However, for many properties within the scope of physical chemistry, and other disciplines at the boundary between chemistry and physics, the distinction may be a matter of researcher's perspective.
Historically, the distinction is based on qualitative differences in properties. Matter in the solid state maintains a fixed volume (assuming no change in temperature or air pressure) and shape, with component particles (atoms, molecules or ions) close together and fixed into place. Matter in the liquid state maintains a fixed volume (assuming ...