揮発性

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: The spelling is 揮発性, read きはつせい, and it combines 揮発, meaning vaporization, with 性, meaning property or tendency.
• Basic usage: The basic sense of 揮発性 is volatility, the tendency of a substance to turn into vapor and disperse readily.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Degree of a property
  • Both examples use the form 揮発性. It describes how readily a substance vaporizes, often as a higher or lower degree, rather than stating only that evaporation has occurred.
• Container handling and substance comparison
  • この液体は揮発性が高いので容器の蓋を閉める。 — This liquid is highly volatile, so keep the container closed.
  • 実験では揮発性の違う二つの物質を比較した。 — The experiment compared two substances with different levels of volatility.