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The universal scale used to test the hardness of a mineral or rock is known as Moh's scale. It was
devised by the Austrian mineralogist Frederick Moh in the early 1800's as a crude but practical
method of comparing scratch resistance. Hardness can be tested by comparing resistance to
fracture, indentation or breakage however Moh's scale refers only to resistance to abrasion.
Moh chose the minerals because they were common or readily available at the time. The Moh's
Hardness scale is not a linear scale unlike the scale of absolute hardness. So Orthoclase at 6 is
not twice as hard as Calcite at 3, nor is the difference between talc and gypsum the same as the
difference between Corundum and Diamond.
An absolute hardness scale gives a clearer idea of how hard the minerals are in relation to each
other. As you can see in the scale below, Orthoclase is not even twice as hard as Apatite however
diamond is four times harder than Corundum.