The Mohs scale, created by Friedrich Mohs in 1812, measures the hardness of minerals by their ability to scratch or be scratched. The traditional scale rates hardness up to 10, with diamond being the hardest, but a revised scale rates up to 15. The scale is relative and not exact, with each number not being twice as hard as the next. It is still an easy system to learn but accessing certain minerals can be difficult.
The Mohs scale is a system for testing the hardness of a mineral, designed by Friedrich Mohs in 1812. Mohs was a German mineralogist who wanted an easy way to test each mineral’s ability to “scratch”. What the mineral might scratch, or what the mineral might scratch, determines its position on the scale.
Mohs designed the scale to work with relatively ordinary devices. For example, one tested the hardness of a mineral with things like a fingernail, a penny, a glass, or a knife. Even having access to just a few of these things in the field could help determine where the ore’s position is in relation to the others.
In the traditional Mohs scale, the hardest mineral is diamond. It cannot be scratched by another mineral and can scratch any other mineral. Its hardness is measured as the number 10. Some minerals are in the numbers 1 to 10, however, and scientists have proposed a revised scale that rates hardness up to 15. This allows some minerals that have fallen into the hardness to be reclassified. gray areas.
The scale does not measure absolute hardness, and each number is not exactly twice the strength of the next number. For example, talc has a hardness of 1 on both the Mohs scale and the absolute hardness scale. The next mineral, gypsum, is twice as hard and absolutely hard.
Big differences occur as the ladder progresses. For example a diamond, rated 10 on the old Mohs scale, has an absolute hardness of 1500. So it is 1500 times harder than talc. Quartz, referred to as the number 7, has an absolute hardness rating of 100. This shows that the numbers on the scale don’t translate to twice as hard or three times as hard.
The Mohs scale, on the other hand, offers a measure of hardness that is relative to other objects. It is still a fairly easy system to learn and you can soon practice mineral measurements with little difficulty. However, accessing certain minerals such as diamonds can be difficult for the junior mineralogist.
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