What are the properties of matter?

We explain what they are and what the properties of matter are. General, specific, intensive and extensive properties.

1. What are the properties of matter?

Matter is all that which occupies a certain amount of energy gathered in a part of the observable universe . This makes it have a spatial location, directly affected by the passage of time .

The matter , then, is all that has mass and occupies a place in space.

Its properties are commonly divided into general properties (that is, of all materials), and specific properties , which are the particular characteristics of a material case.

2. General properties of matter

The general properties of matter are:

• The extension:  allows to occupy a certain space.
• The mass :  is the quantity of matter containing a body.
• The inertia :  prevents movement without the influence of a force, impenetrability makes another matter can not occupy the same space.
• The porosity:  involves the interstices between the particles that form.
• The divisibility: is the ability to subdivide parts of the whole subject.
• The elasticity : allows the material back to its original shape when the force and ceases to exert his strength and finally the temperature.

3. Specific properties of matter

The specific properties of matter are:

• The density is the amount of mass per unit volume. Each matter has its own density.
• The volume : the space it takes up the matter. The bodies have three dimensions: height, width and length.
• The melting point : depends on the specific property of solid matter, through which it passes from solidity to a liquid state .
• The degree of conductivity of electrical energy : there are bodies that conduct electrical energy in a greater way than others, there are also materials that are directly non-conductive and insulating of electrical energy, this depends on the particular characteristics of the material body.
• The degree of thermal conductivity : thermal conduction is the transfer of energy that is expressed in the increase or decrease in the temperature of matter, as in the previous case it is the material property that determines or facilitates the thermal influence.

4. Extensive and intensive properties of matter

On the other hand the properties can be classified as extensive or intensive:

• The extensive properties: are those that the measured value lies in the dough properties. For example: weight, area, volume, gas pressure , decrease or increase in heat, etc.
• The intensive properties: instead they are measured values ​​that do not depend on mass, for example color , taste, reactivity, electronegativity, etc.

5. Other approaches to the subject

There are sections that understand the subject in a different way emphasizing specific characteristics, and that comprise a different point of view with which they are covered . As the chemical properties , which are properties that manifest themselves by altering their internal or molecular structure of the materials, when they are in direct contact with other substances. Examples of this are oxidation processes .

From the beginning in philosophy there is also an approach on the subject, in which it appears as sustenance of nature and its changes . This idea holds that the observable is given in its various forms, also changing, and in the appearances of the matter which contributes its entity and is where the movement lies.

An ancient philosophical discussion was about the origin of matter, about the existence of a single principle or a source of diverse matter.

This philosophical theoretical approach recognizes the existence of four fundamental elements that would be found in different measures in each of the subjects, the balance between them would result in the characteristic of each of them.

With the advent of modern science the evidence and quantifying studies were advancing in the realization of an updated and general understanding, discarding magical, mythical or metaphysical elements.