Liquids are substances that can flow and take the shape of a container. They have physical and chemical properties that can be used to classify and identify them. Physical properties include viscosity, surface tension, boiling and freezing points, and density. Chemical properties include pH, conductivity, and flammability.
A liquid is broadly defined as any substance that is not a gas and that can flow to fit the shape of a container. Liquids are in one of three primary states of matter, which include the gaseous and solid states. The physical properties of liquids are those that are easily observed or measured without subjecting the liquid to some type of chemical reaction. Chemical properties are those properties that are measurable or detectable only as a result of a chemical reaction. Although each substance has unique properties, chemists use certain properties of liquids as tools to classify and identify them and to predict how they will behave under certain conditions and react with other substances.
The physical properties of liquids include a large number of characteristics. Smell and color are two simple examples. Some characteristics are only used to describe the physical properties of liquids. Viscosity, or thickness, for example, describes a liquid’s resistance to flow. A high viscosity liquid is very dense, a property that tends to increase as the temperature decreases.
Adhesion and cohesion are also physical properties of liquids, which together produce the property known as surface tension. Adhesion is the ability of a liquid to adhere to solids. Cohesion is the tendency of molecules in a liquid to stick together. These properties determine surface tension, which is the force on the surface of the liquid that causes it to act like a film. It is surface tension that allows water to form droplets and is the reason some insects can walk on the surface of streams and puddles.
Temperature-related properties of liquids include the boiling point, which is the temperature at which the liquid begins to evaporate or convert to a gas. The freezing point is the temperature at which the liquid begins to turn into a solid. Each pure liquid will have its own specific boiling and freezing points. Density describes the amount of mass present in a given volume of liquid. It is sometimes called specific gravity, which is a measure of the density of a substance relative to pure water.
While there are numerous other physical properties of liquids, only a few others are commonly used in science. Miscibility with water, or the ability to dissolve in solution, can be described as the ability to dissolve in water or to absorb water, depending on which liquid is present in greater quantity in a hypothetical mixture. Vapor pressure is the rate at which a liquid evaporates into air. Compressibility is the resistance of a liquid to compression and expansion and contraction describe the tendency of a liquid to increase or decrease in volume as the temperature changes.
The chemical properties of liquids vary greatly from liquid to liquid and are defined as how a liquid behaves in a chemical reaction. Each liquid has its own set of chemical properties, including pH, ability to conduct electricity, and flammability. Heat of combustion describes the amount of heat released when a liquid burns. Many other chemical properties can also be used to describe liquids, including its reactivity with other substances, especially water.
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