Question

The following is the characteristic property of a substance:
A. Density
B. Volume
C. Weight
D. None of these

Answer 1

Hint: A substance is defined as a matter which has a specific composition and specific properties. Every pure element is a substance and every pure compound is a substance. Example of a substance is iron which is an element and hence is also a substance.

Complete Solution :
- Every substance has both physical as well as chemical properties such as color and luster and flammability and reactivity. Physical characteristic or physical properties are those which can be easily observed without changing the substance chemically and on the other hand chemical properties represent a substance's ability to undergo chemical changes and are observable only when these changes take place.
- Common physical properties that are used to identify different substances are luster, color, malleability, ductility and conductivity. Luster refers to the shininess of a substance. Malleability refers to the ability of a substance to be moulded into sheets while ductility refers to its ability to be drawn into a wire. Conductivity is a physical characteristic which represents whether a substance conducts electricity or not. Physical properties are divided into two groups: extensive and intensive properties. Extensive properties are size and weight change when the amount of substance changes while intensive properties are density and luster which are independent of the amount of substance.
Hence we can say that density is the characteristic property of a substance.
So, the correct answer is “Option A”.

Note: Chemical properties of a substance tells us about whether it reacts with certain other chemicals or not. For example a property of iron in which it reacts with oxygen to form iron oxide generally known by the name rust.