Question

Janelle is observing a sample of matter. She notes that it is a shiny silver-colored solid, has a

mass of around 20 grams, and conducts heat and electricity well. What type of properties is
Janelle observing?
Chemical properties
Only intensive properties
Physical properties
Only extensive properties

Answer 1

Janelle is observing Physical properties.

Why?

The properties of matter can be classified as follows:

• Extensive and Intensive: Extensive properties depend on the amount of matter involved in the measuring (e.g. mass), and intensive properties do not depend on the amount of matter (e.g. density, conductivity).
• Physical and Chemical: Physical properties do not involve a change in the nature of the substance that is being measured (e.g. color, length), while Chemical properties involve a change in the nature of the substance when they are measured (e.g. reactivity).

The properties that Janelle observed are: Color (intensive, physical), mass (extensive, physical), heat conductivity (intensive, physical), and electrical conductivity (intensive, physical). All these properties are Physical properties.

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