Mohs scale of mineral hardness

Mohs scale of mineral hardness

The Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a
harder material to scratch a softer material. It was created in 1812 by the German geologist and mineralogist
Friedrich Mohs and is one of several definitions of hardness in materials science.[1] The method of comparing
hardness by seeing which minerals can scratch others, however, is of great antiquity, having first been mentioned by
Theophrastus in his treatise On Stones, circa 300 BC, followed by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia, circa 77
AD.[2] [3] [4]

Minerals
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is based on the ability of one natural sample of matter to scratch another. The
samples of matter used by Mohs are all minerals. Minerals are pure substances found in nature. Rocks are made up
of one or more minerals.[5] As the hardest known naturally occurring substance when the scale was designed,
diamonds are at the top of the scale. The hardness of a material is measured against the scale by finding the hardest
material that the given material can scratch, and/or the softest material that can scratch the given material. For
example, if some material is scratched by apatite but not by fluorite, its hardness on the Mohs scale would fall
between 4 and 5.[6]
The Mohs scale is a purely ordinal scale. For example, corundum (9) is twice as hard as topaz (8), but diamond (10)
is four times as hard as corundum. The table below shows comparison with absolute hardness measured by a
sclerometer, with pictorial examples.[7] [8]
Mohs hardness

Mineral

Chemical formula

Absolute hardness

Talc

Mg3Si4O10(OH)2

Gypsum

CaSO42H2O

Calcite

CaCO3

Fluorite

CaF2

21

Apatite

Ca5(PO4)3(OH,Cl,F)

48

Orthoclase Feldspar

KAlSi3O8

72

Quartz

SiO2

100

Topaz

Al2SiO4(OH,F)2

200

Image

Mohs scale of mineral hardness

Corundum

Al2O3

400

10

Diamond

1600

On the Mohs scale, graphite (a principal constituent of pencil "lead") has a hardness of 1.5; a fingernail, 2.22.5; a
copper penny, 3.23.5; a pocketknife 5.1; a knife blade, 5.5; window glass plate, 5.5; and a steel file, 6.5.[9] A streak
plate (unglazed porcelain) has a hardness of 7.0. Using these ordinary materials of known hardness can be a simple
way to approximate the position of a mineral on the scale.[1]

Intermediate hardness
The table below incorporates additional substances that may fall between levels:
Hardness

Substance or mineral

0.20.3

caesium, rubidium

0.50.6

lithium, sodium, potassium

1
1.5
2
2.5 to 3

talc
gallium, strontium, indium, tin, barium, thallium, lead, graphite
[10]

hexagonal boron nitride,

calcium, selenium, cadmium, sulfur, tellurium, bismuth

magnesium, gold, silver, aluminium, zinc, lanthanum, cerium, Jet_(lignite) (lignite)

calcite, copper, arsenic, antimony, thorium, dentin

fluorite, iron, nickel

4 to 4.5
5
5.5

platinum, steel
apatite, cobalt, zirconium, palladium, tooth enamel, obsidian (volcanic glass)
beryllium, molybdenum, hafnium

orthoclase, titanium, manganese, germanium, niobium, rhodium, uranium

6 to 7

glass, fused quartz, iron pyrite, silicon, ruthenium, iridium, tantalum, opal

7
7.5 to 8
8
8.5
9-9.5
9.510

quartz, vanadium, osmium, rhenium

hardened steel, tungsten, emerald, spinel
topaz, cubic zirconia
chrysoberyl, chromium, silicon nitride
corundum, silicon carbide (carborundum), tungsten carbide, titanium carbide, stishovite
rhenium diboride, tantalum carbide, titanium diboride, boron nitride, boron

10

diamond

>10

nanocrystalline diamond (hyperdiamond, ultrahard fullerite)

[11] [12] [13] [14]

Mohs scale of mineral hardness

Hardness (Vickers)
Comparison between Hardness (Mohs) and Hardness (Vickers):[15]
Mineral
name

Hardness (Mohs)

Hardness (Vickers)
kg/mm2

Graphite

1-2

VHN10=7 - 11

Tin

1 - 2

VHN10=7 - 9

Bismuth

2 - 2

VHN100=16 - 18

Gold

2 - 3

VHN10=30 - 34

Silver

2 - 3

VHN100=61 - 65

Chalcocite

2 - 3

VHN100=84 - 87

Copper

2 - 3

VHN100=77 - 99

Galena

VHN100=79 - 104

Sphalerite

3 - 4

VHN100=208 - 224

Heazlewoodite 4

VHN100=230 - 254

Carrollite

4 - 5

VHN100=507 - 586

Goethite

5 - 5

VHN100=667

Hematite

5-6

VHN100=1,000 - 1,100

Chromite

VHN100=1,278 - 1,456

Anatase

5 - 6

VHN100=616 - 698

Rutile

6 - 6

VHN100=894 - 974

Pyrite

6 - 6

VHN100=1,505 - 1,520

Bowieite

VHN100=858 - 1,288

Euclase

VHN100=1,310

Chromium

VHN100=1,875 - 2,000

References
[1] Encyclopdia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. 22 Feb. 2009 "Mohs hardness." (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/
topic/ 387714/ Mohs-hardness)
[2] Theophrastus on Stones (http:/ / www. farlang. com/ gemstones/ theophrastus-on-stones/ page_148/ view?searchterm=scratch)
[3] Pliny the Elder.Naturalis Historia.Book 37.Chap. 15. ADamas: six varieties of it. Two remedies. (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ cgi-bin/
ptext?lookup=Plin. + Nat. + 37. 15)
[4] Pliny the Elder.Naturalis Historia.Book 37.Chap. 76. The methods of testing precious stones. (http:/ / www. perseus. tufts. edu/ cgi-bin/
ptext?lookup=Plin. + Nat. + 37. 76)
[5] Learn science, Intermediate p. 42
[6] American Federation of Mineralogical Societies. "Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness" (http:/ / www. amfed. org/ t_mohs. htm)
[7] Amethyst Galleries' Mineral Gallery What is important about hardness? (http:/ / www. galleries. com/ minerals/ hardness. htm)
[8] Inland Lapidary Mineral Hardness and Hardness Scales (http:/ / www. inlandlapidary. com/ user_area/ hardness. asp)
[9] William S. Cordua (1998). "The Hardness of Minerals and Rocks" (http:/ / www. gemcutters. org/ LDA/ hardness. htm). Lapidary Digest. .
Retrieved 2007-08-19. Hosted at International Lapidary Association (http:/ / www. gemcutters. org/ )
[10] L. I. berger "semiconductor materials" CRC press, 1996 ISBN 0849389127, p. 126
[11] Weintraub E. (1911). "On the properties and preparation of the element boron.". J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 3 (5): 299301.
doi:10.1021/ie50029a007.
[12] Solozhenko, V. L.; Kurakevych O. O.; Oganov A. R. (2008). "On the hardness of a new boron phase, orthorhombic -B28". Journal of
Superhard Materials 30 (6): 428429. doi:10.3103/s1063457608060117.. Open access: (http:/ / mysbfiles. stonybrook. edu/ ~aoganov/ files/
JSM-2008-6b-e. pdf)

Mohs scale of mineral hardness

[13] Zarechnaya, E. Yu.; Dubrovinsky, L.; Dubrovinskaia, N.; Filinchuk, Y.; Chernyshov, D.; Dmitriev, V.; Miyajima, N.; El Goresy, A. et al.
(2009). "Superhard semiconducting optically transparent high pressure phase of boron". Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 (18): 185501.
Bibcode2009PhRvL.102r5501Z. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.102.185501. PMID19518885.
[14] Oganov A.R., Solozhenko V.L. (2009). "Boron: a hunt for superhard polymorphs". Journal of Superhard Materials 31: 285-291.. Open
access: (http:/ / mysbfiles. stonybrook. edu/ ~aoganov/ files/ Boron-history-JSM. pdf)
[15] "[[Mindat.org (http:/ / www. mindat. org/ min-1911. html)]"]. .

Mohs hardness of elements is taken from G.V. Samsonov (Ed.) in Handbook of the physicochemical properties of
the elements, IFI-Plenum, New York, USA, 1968.
Cordua, William S. "The Hardness of Minerals and Rocks" (http://www.gemcutters.org/LDA/hardness.htm).
Lapidary Digest, c. 1990.

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Article Sources and Contributors

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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Talc block.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Talc_block.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: EugeneZelenko, Sanao, Saperaud, Wela49
Image:Gypse Arignac.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gypse_Arignac.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0 Contributors: Didier
Descouens
Image:Calcite-sample2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Calcite-sample2.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Jarno from Rotterdam,
Netherlands
Image:Fluorite with Iron Pyrite.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Fluorite_with_Iron_Pyrite.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Contributors: Original
uploader was H at en.wikipedia
Image:Apatite crystals.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Apatite_crystals.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: OG59, Rocket000, berraschungsbilder, 1
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Image:OrthoclaseBresil.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:OrthoclaseBresil.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0 Contributors:
Didier Descouens
Image:Quartz Brsil.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Quartz_Brsil.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: Didier Descouens
Image:Topaz cut.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Topaz_cut.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: w:de:Benutzer:Wela49Wela49
Image:Cut Ruby.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cut_Ruby.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Bkell
Image:Rough diamond.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Rough_diamond.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Unknown USGS employee

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