Question

What effect does observing a substance's physical properties have on the substance?

Answer 1

If you're careful, you ought to be able to observe ANY of these properties
without any effect on the substance:

Absorption, albedo, angular momentum, area, color, concentration,
density, elasticity, electric charge, electrical conductivity, flow rate,
electrical impedance, electric potential, fluidity, length, location, mass,
luminance, luminescence, luster, magnetic field, momentum, opacity,
permeability, permittivity, plasticity, pressure, radiance, solubility, spin,
specific heat, resistivity, reflectivity, refractive index, temperature,
thermal conductivity, velocity, viscosity, or volume.