Which of the following statements about extensive and intensive properties is accurate?

Disable ads (and more) with a premium pass for a one time $4.99 payment

Study for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). Test your chemistry skills with multiple-choice questions, each providing hints and explanations. Get exam ready!

Intensive properties are characteristics of a substance that do not depend on the amount of material present. This means that regardless of how much of the substance is present, these properties remain constant. For instance, properties like density, boiling point, and color are intensive because they inherently describe the substance itself, rather than the quantity of that substance.

In contrast, extensive properties, such as mass, volume, and total energy, do change with the quantity of material. Therefore, the accurate statement highlights the fundamental nature of intensive properties, affirming their independence from the amount of substance involved.

Regarding the other options: extensive properties do not remain constant when the amount changes; instead, they vary directly with quantity. Additionally, intensive properties are not defined by changes in size and do not equate to state functions, which are properties defined at specific conditions regardless of the path taken to achieve those conditions. This distinction is crucial for understanding the behavior of materials under different physical situations.