SDSU Chemistry Placement Test 2026 – Complete Practice for Exam Preparation

The assertion that chemical reactivity is not a physical property is accurate because chemical reactivity pertains to how a substance interacts with other substances during a chemical reaction. It involves the formation or breaking of chemical bonds and results in new substances being formed, which is a characteristic defining chemical properties rather than physical properties.

In contrast, boiling point, solubility, and melting point are all considered physical properties. These properties describe the state of a substance and how it behaves under various conditions without involving changes to its chemical structure. For instance, the boiling point refers to the temperature at which a substance transitions from liquid to gas, solubility indicates how well a substance dissolves in a solvent, and melting point denotes the temperature at which a substance changes from solid to liquid. All of these can be observed and measured without altering the chemical identity of the substance, distinguishing them from chemical reactivity.