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What is the range in hardness for minerals on the Mohs hardness scale?
This scale is a chart of relative hardness of the various minerals (1 – softest to 10 – hardest).
How many minerals are on the Mohs scale?
10 minerals
It is a property by which minerals may be described relative to a standard scale of 10 minerals known as the Mohs scale of hardness.
What is the range of hardness for minerals?
Soft – can be scratched by a fingernail, Mohs’ 1-2; Medium – can be scratched by a knife or nail, Mohs’ 3-5; Hard – cannot be scratched by a knife but can scratch glass, Mohs’ 6-9; Diamond is the hardest known mineral, Mohs’ 10.
How do you read Mohs hardness scale?
The hardness of a material is measured against the scale by finding the hardest material that the given material can scratch, 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.
How do you calculate Mohs hardness scale?
The Mohs hardness of a mineral is determined by observing whether its surface is scratched by a substance of known or defined hardness. To give numerical values to this physical property, minerals are ranked along the Mohs scale, which is composed of 10 minerals that have been given arbitrary hardness values.
How is Mohs hardness measured?
The Mohs Hardness Scale is used as a convenient way to help identify minerals. A mineral’s hardness is a measure of its relative resistance to scratching, measured by scratching the mineral against another substance of known hardness on the Mohs Hardness Scale.
What is a 9 on the Mohs hardness scale?
The Mohs scale starts approximately linear, but the curve climbs sharply at the high end. Corundum (9) is twice as hard as topaz (8), and diamond (10) is four times as hard as corundum….The Mohs Scale of Hardness.
| 10 | Diamond |
|---|---|
| 9 | Corundum (rubies and sapphires) |
| 8 | Topaz |
| 7 | Quartz [Example: It scratches window glass] |