Why are characteristic properties important in chemistry?

Characteristic properties are vital in chemistry because they provide specific traits that can be used to accurately identify and distinguish one substance from another. These properties include physical characteristics like color, boiling point, melting point, and density, as well as chemical properties such as reactivity and flammability. By utilizing these distinctive traits, chemists can determine the identity of an unknown substance or verify the purity of a sample. For example, if a substance has a boiling point of 78°C, it can be inferred to be ethanol, which has a known boiling point.

The other concepts, while relevant to chemistry, do not serve the primary function of identifying substances. The creation of mixtures, the determination of the state of matter, and the particle size may involve various properties but are not primarily focused on the identification of the individual substances, which is the key aspect of characteristic properties.