Extensive, Intensive, and Specific Properties

Definition

Physical properties of macroscopic systems are classified as either intensive or extensive:

  • Intensive properties (such as pressure and temperature) are independent of the system size.

  • Extensive properties (like mass, volume, and energy) scale with the size of the system.

To clarify, if a system is divided into two equal parts, intensive properties remain unchanged in each part, while extensive properties are halved.

Additionally, specific properties are derived by dividing one extensive quantity by another, rendering them independent of system size. A common example is density