Chemical property

In chemistry, a property is any aspect of a substance which is only seen by means of a chemical reaction. Simply speaking, chemical properties cannot be determined just by viewing or touching the substance. This is different from a physical property, which can be discovered without changing the substance's chemical structure.

Usually a chemical property is discovered by changing the substance's internal structure. When a substance goes under a chemical reaction, the properties will change drastically, resulting in chemical change. However, a catalytic property would also be a chemical property.

Chemical properties can be used for building chemical classifications. They can be used to identify an unknown substance or to separate or purify it from other substances.

Examples of chemical properties

• reactivity
• toxicity
• coordination number
• flammability
• enthalpy of formation
• heat of combustion
• oxidation states
• chemical stability
• Viscosity
• Electronic configuration