Is the molar volume a physical or chemical property?

Question

Ellie Andrews · Accepted Answer

It's a physical property, then, since you can observe it without altering the matter's form or composition.

(In fact, altering the matter's form causes the molar volume to alter, further illuminating the material's physical character.)

Molar volume is sometimes labeled #barV = V/n#, where #V# is the volume in #"L"# and #n# is the #"mol"#s of substance. It is the volume occupied by #"1 mol"# of the substance.

As long as you can measure the volume, and you know the mass and what substance you're looking at (so you can use its molar mass in #"g/mol"#), you can find the #"mol"#s, which allows you to find the molar volume.

AN EXAMPLE

If you have a volume of #"116 mL"# of ethanol (#"EtOH"#), and you acquire its mass as #"92.136 g"#, then convert to #"mol"#s and you have a pure molar volume of:

#color(blue)(barV_"EtOH"^"*") = "0.116 L"/(92.136 cancel"g") xx (46.068 cancel"g")/"mol"#

#=# #"0.058 L/mol"#

#=# #color(blue)("58.0 mL/mol")#

(Remember that if we didn't assume that volumes were additive, a real liquid would have a different pure molar volume than a partial molar volume in a mixture.)

Luna Chen · Answer

undefined Molar volume is an objective characteristic.