Chemical Property Chemistry Example 3

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Example 3

medium
Why can flammability only be classified as a chemical property and never as a physical property?

Solution

  1. 1
    Flammability describes whether a substance can undergo combustion — a chemical reaction that produces new substances (typically CO2\text{CO}_2 and H2O\text{H}_2\text{O}).
  2. 2
    You cannot test flammability without actually burning the substance, which permanently changes it into different compounds.

Answer

Testing flammability requires a chemical change (combustion).\text{Testing flammability requires a chemical change (combustion).}
Since observing flammability requires the substance to react and form new products, it is inherently a chemical property. The original substance is consumed and cannot be recovered by physical means.

About Chemical Property

A characteristic that describes a substance's ability to undergo a chemical change and form new substances with different compositions and properties.

Learn more about Chemical Property →

More Chemical Property Examples

Example 1 easy

Define a chemical property and give three examples.

Example 2 medium

A student places a piece of iron in water and observes it slowly forming a reddish-brown coating ove

Example 4 hard

Gold does not tarnish in air and does not react with most acids. Silver tarnishes when exposed to su

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