At what temperature would 250 mL water boil? 1000 mL? Is the boiling point an intensive or extensive property?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Sep 15, 2016

Any amount would boil at #100.0^@ "C"#. It's a property that doesn't depend on the extent of the quantity, i.e. it is not extensive. So it is an intensive property.

You can tell because the units of temperature are #""^@ "C"#. It's not #"g"^@ "C"#, so the temperature does not depend on the mass present. It's not #"mol"^@ "C"#, so it doesn't depend on the #"mol"#s present. It only depends on what temperature the water is at.

How long it takes to boil will change, but that is due to the extensive property called the heat capacity, not because the boiling temperature has to be higher.

The more water there is, the more water molecules that must acquire enough energy before the system as a whole is observed to be at #100.0^@ "C"#.

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