Intensive vs. Extensive Properties - Online Tutor, Practice Problems & Exam Prep

Understanding the properties of matter is crucial in chemistry, and this includes distinguishing between intensive and extensive properties. Intensive properties, such as color, density, hardness, boiling point, melting point, freezing point, and temperature, are inherent to a substance and do not depend on the amount present. For example, gold's color remains the same whether you have an ounce or a ton, and water boils at 100 degrees Celsius regardless of volume. In contrast, extensive properties like mass, length, volume, and energy types depend on the size and amount of substance present. A substance's mass or volume will vary with the quantity, making these properties extensive. Both intensive and extensive properties are physical properties, but their dependency on the amount of substance is what sets them apart. Understanding these properties helps predict how substances will behave in different contexts, which is essential for problem-solving in chemistry.

Intensive vs. Extensive Properties

When discussing the different properties of matter, it's also important to include intensive and extensive properties. Now, intensive properties are those that are innate or inside type of properties for a given material. Because they are innate to an object, they are independent of the size or amount of the substance present. So it doesn't matter if I have a little bit of the substance or lot of the substance that property is unique to it.

Now we're going to say intensive properties are characterized as being physical properties. So there's going to be some things that we've seen before when we talked about physical properties of matter. So if we take a look here at these images, again we have our trusty color palette. So we know that in intensive property has to be color. Now, it doesn't matter if I have a small amount of gold or large amount of gold. Gold typically has the same color.

Next, we know that here the density of an object determines if it's going to sync within the liquid or if it's going to float on its surface. So density is an intensive property. So again, going along with the idea of gold, it doesn't matter if I have an ounce of gold or a ton of gold. Gold is gold, so all of them will have the same basic density. Next, hardness. Now it doesn't matter if I have a small diamond or a large diamond. Diamonds are naturally strong and durable substances found in nature. So again, their hardness isn't based on the amount that we have of the substance.

We know that here this pot that has seen coming out of it, it can represent boiling point, melting point or freezing point. And then finally here we have a thermometer. Here we'd say that this image represents temperature. Temperature represents another kind common type of intensive property. Now we know that water from grade school we're told that water boils at 100°C. It doesn't matter if I have a gallon of water or if I have a cup of water, water will boil at 100°C, no matter the amount of it, because of temperature, is an intensive property.

Now that we've gone over the basic ideas of this, let's take a look at questions. We're asked to either determine what is or isn't an intensive property, so click on the next video.

Intensive vs. Extensive Properties Example 1

So here if we take a look at this example question, it says which of the following are examples of intensive properties. So for the first one we have mass. Now mass definitely is not an intensive property. 10 grams is very different from 100 grams. Mass is based on the amount you have of a substance.

Length. Length can't also be an intensive property because think about it, length one mile is different from 1000 miles. So here the length of something is based on the quantity that's stated. We know that melting point is one of the intensive property examples we've given up above, so we know that our answer must contain three in the choice.

So if we look at the options, 3 is not listed here, 3 is listed here, but we just said that length cannot be an intensive property. Three is listed here, but again two. We said that 2 cannot be an intensive property. So let me the only answer is D.

If we look at 4 volume, volume can't be an intensive property either because we can say here that one ounce of water is very different from 1 gallon of water. Volume is based on the quantity that's stated. Luster. Luster would be our other intensive property. Luster has to do with the shininess of an object.

Now if we think of gold, we have an ounce of gold and then we have a ton of gold. Gold both of them are. So they're both going to have the same type of shininess associated with that particular element. Shininess luster is based on just innate properties within the substance. So luster here as well as melting point would be our two intensive properties.

Now that we've done this example, move on to the practice question.

Which of the following is not an example of an intensive property?

• A. Elemental Magnetism
• B. Density
• C. Temperature
• D. Milligrams
• E. Freezing Point

Intensive vs. Extensive Properties

So here it says in this practice question, which of the following is not an example of an intensive property. Remember an intensive property is innate or inside of the particular substance. It's unique to it, here a elemental magnetism. So remember, something that has magnetism can act like a magnet. Now this is unique to a substance. I can have a small amount of that substance, or a large amount of that substance. If it's magnetic, it's going to be magnetic no matter what the size or amount is. So magnetism is an example of an intensive property.

Next we have density. Well, density is one of the examples we saw up above. Density is one of the key terms that we use to explain intensive properties. Temperature, temperature too. We use the example of temperature to explain in intensive property milligrams. Milligrams is connected to mass. Mass itself is not an intensive property. There is a difference between 10g and 100 grams of a substance, a pound of gold versus a ton of gold. Mass is very different O milligrams. Here would be example that is not an intensive property.

Finally, freezing point, freezing point. We list it as one of the key features or one of the key terms used to describe intensive properties. We have boiling point, melting point and of course freezing point. So out of all the options, only option D represents an intensive property.

Intensive vs. Extensive Properties Example 2

So if we take a look here at this example question that states which of the following is classified as an extensive property. First we have chemical energy. Remember we have our trusty energy drink of above. That energy drink represents all forms of energy, nuclear energy, thermal energy or in this case chemical energy. So remember if energy is in the name it can count as an extensive property. So here this would be our extensive property.

Let's look at the other choices here. Next we have electrical conductivity. Now conductivity is. You'll be able to basically channel electrical current. Now that's based on the properties that are inside or innate to a substance. So it represents an intensive property where they have a small amount of a conductive material or large amount. It's still going to conduct electricity. Its amount doesn't control this particular property.

Luster, we've talked about luster before as well. It talks about the shininess of a material. Its shininess doesn't depend on if we have a lot of it or a little bit of it. It also is an intensive property. And then finally, freezing point. Remember freezing point, melting point, boiling point, We said that all of these are innate or inside properties, so they're all intensive property. Whether I have a cup of water or a gallon of water, it would have the same freezing point.

So out of all my choices, only option A is the correct choice. Now that we've seen this example question, let's move on to the practice question.

Which of the following is not an example of an extensive property?

• A. Kilograms
• B. Gibbs Free Energy
• C. Milliliters
• D. Malleability

Which of the following is an extensive property of a nitrogen molecule?

• A. Boiling Point
• B. Temperature
• C. Moles
• D. Polarity
• E. Reactivity

Here’s what students ask on this topic:

What is the difference between intensive and extensive properties?

Intensive and extensive properties are two categories of physical properties used to describe matter.

Intensive properties are those that do not depend on the amount of the substance present. They are intrinsic to the material, meaning they are the same regardless of how much of the substance you have. Examples include boiling point, density, color, and temperature. For instance, the density of gold is the same whether you have a 1-gram nugget or a 1-kilogram bar.

Extensive properties, on the other hand, do change with the quantity of the substance. They are extrinsic and depend on the size or extent of the system. Examples include mass, volume, energy, and entropy. For example, the mass of a sample of water will vary if you have one glass or a full jug, but the density (an intensive property) of the water remains constant.

Understanding these properties is important because it helps you predict how a substance will behave under different conditions without being influenced by its amount.

What are intensive properties?

Intensive properties are characteristics of a substance that do not depend on the amount of the substance present. These properties are intrinsic to the material, meaning they are inherent and do not change regardless of the size or extent of the system. Examples of intensive properties include boiling point, melting point, density, temperature, and refractive index. For instance, the boiling point of water is always 100°C at standard atmospheric pressure, irrespective of whether you have a milliliter or a liter of water. Similarly, the density of gold is constant and does not vary whether you have a tiny gold nugget or a large gold bar. Intensive properties are useful in identifying substances and do not scale with the quantity of material. Contrastingly, extensive properties, such as mass and volume, do depend on the amount of substance present.

What are extensive properties?

Extensive properties are characteristics of a substance that change when the amount of the substance is changed. In other words, they are dependent on the quantity of material present. These properties are not intrinsic to the substance itself, but rather vary with the size or extent of the system being considered.

Examples of extensive properties include mass, volume, length, and total charge. For instance, if you have a sample of water, the mass and volume of that water are extensive properties because if you take more water, both the mass and volume will increase proportionally. Similarly, the energy content of a system is an extensive property because it depends on the amount of substance present.

It's important to differentiate extensive properties from intensive properties, which do not depend on the amount of matter. Temperature and density are examples of intensive properties; they remain the same regardless of how much substance you have. Understanding the difference between these types of properties is crucial in fields like thermodynamics and material science.