DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EXTENSIVE PROPERTIES AND INTENSIVE PROPERTIES EXPLAINED

Any characteristic of a system is called property. For example: pressure, temperature, volume and mass are some familiar properties of a system. Viscosity, thermal conductivity, modulus of elasticity thermal expansion coefficient, electrical resistivity etc are less familiar properties.Any property may be either intensive or extensive.

Intensive property 

1. It is the property of matter that is independent of the quantity of the substance 
2. The density of single drop of water is same as the density of 5 or 10 litres of water 
3. Eg: density, specific gravity, temperature etc 

So we can say that Intensive properties refer to properties that are independent compared to the size or quantity of the substance. These properties do not change when more of a substance is added or some of the substance is removed. Intensive properties include: density, color, viscosity, electrical resistivity, spectral absorption, hardness, melting point/boiling point, pressure, ductility, elasticity, malleability, magnetization, concentration, temperature and magnetic field.

These properties do not change if the size of the quantity of the substance changes. For example: the hardness of a diamond does not change, no matter how many times the diamond is cut. The color of the salt does not change no matter how much of it is added to the original amount. These all describe the intensive properties of the diamond and salt.

Extensive property 

1. It is the property of matter that is dependent of the quantity of the substance 
2. There is an obvious difference between 1 g of sugar and 1 Kg of sugar both in quantity and value. 3. Eg: Mass, volume etc 

So we can say that Extensive properties refer to properties that are dependent on the size or quantity of the substance. These properties change depending on how much of the substance is added or removed. The value of the additive property is proportional to the size of the system. For example if the size is increased, then the property will also increase. Extensive properties include: energy, entropy, mass, length, particle number, number of moles, volume, magnetic moment, weight and electrical charge.

These properties are directly proportional to the size and the quantity of the substance. For example: if the amount of water increases, the weight of the water will also increase; the more the water, the heavier it will be. Another example: the energy it would take to melt an ice cube is proportional to its size. The energy it would take to melt and ice cube differs from the energy that would be required to melt an iceberg.