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Intensive and extensive properties
Physical or chemical properties of materials and systems can often be categorized as being either intensive or extensive, according to how the property changes when the size (or extent) of the system changes. The terms "intensive and extensive quantities" were introduced into physics by German mathematician Georg Helm in 1898, and by American physicist and chemist Richard C. Tolman in 1917.
According to International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), an intensive property or intensive quantity is one whose magnitude (extent) is independent of the size of the system. An intensive property is not necessarily homogeneously distributed in space; it can vary from place to place in a body of matter and radiation. 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. Examples include mass, volume and Gibbs energy.
Not all properties of matter fall into these two categories. For example, the square root of the volume is neither intensive nor extensive. If a system is doubled in size by juxtaposing a second identical system, the value of an intensive property equals the value for each subsystem and the value of an extensive property is twice the value for each subsystem. However the property √V is instead multiplied by √2 .
The distinction between intensive and extensive properties has some theoretical uses. For example, in thermodynamics, the state of a simple compressible system is completely specified by two independent, intensive properties, along with one extensive property, such as mass. Other intensive properties are derived from those two intensive variables.
An intensive property is a physical quantity whose value does not depend on the amount of substance which was measured. The most obvious intensive quantities are ratios of extensive quantities. In a homogeneous system divided into two halves, all its extensive properties, in particular its volume and its mass, are divided into two halves. All its intensive properties, such as the mass per volume (mass density) or volume per mass (specific volume), must remain the same in each half.
The temperature of a system in thermal equilibrium is the same as the temperature of any part of it, so temperature is an intensive quantity. If the system is divided by a wall that is permeable to heat or to matter, the temperature of each subsystem is identical. Additionally, the boiling temperature of a substance is an intensive property. For example, the boiling temperature of water is 100 °C at a pressure of one atmosphere, regardless of the quantity of water remaining as liquid.
Examples of intensive properties include:
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Intensive and extensive properties AI simulator
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Intensive and extensive properties
Physical or chemical properties of materials and systems can often be categorized as being either intensive or extensive, according to how the property changes when the size (or extent) of the system changes. The terms "intensive and extensive quantities" were introduced into physics by German mathematician Georg Helm in 1898, and by American physicist and chemist Richard C. Tolman in 1917.
According to International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), an intensive property or intensive quantity is one whose magnitude (extent) is independent of the size of the system. An intensive property is not necessarily homogeneously distributed in space; it can vary from place to place in a body of matter and radiation. 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. Examples include mass, volume and Gibbs energy.
Not all properties of matter fall into these two categories. For example, the square root of the volume is neither intensive nor extensive. If a system is doubled in size by juxtaposing a second identical system, the value of an intensive property equals the value for each subsystem and the value of an extensive property is twice the value for each subsystem. However the property √V is instead multiplied by √2 .
The distinction between intensive and extensive properties has some theoretical uses. For example, in thermodynamics, the state of a simple compressible system is completely specified by two independent, intensive properties, along with one extensive property, such as mass. Other intensive properties are derived from those two intensive variables.
An intensive property is a physical quantity whose value does not depend on the amount of substance which was measured. The most obvious intensive quantities are ratios of extensive quantities. In a homogeneous system divided into two halves, all its extensive properties, in particular its volume and its mass, are divided into two halves. All its intensive properties, such as the mass per volume (mass density) or volume per mass (specific volume), must remain the same in each half.
The temperature of a system in thermal equilibrium is the same as the temperature of any part of it, so temperature is an intensive quantity. If the system is divided by a wall that is permeable to heat or to matter, the temperature of each subsystem is identical. Additionally, the boiling temperature of a substance is an intensive property. For example, the boiling temperature of water is 100 °C at a pressure of one atmosphere, regardless of the quantity of water remaining as liquid.
Examples of intensive properties include: