Mineral hardness is a physical characteristic that can be tested, measured and compared to other minerals. One method is to test the hardness of one mineral against another. This is done through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer one.
The Mohs' Hardness Scale rates the hardness of a mineral relative to others. It was created by German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs. The Mohs' Scale is one of several definitions of hardness in materials science. Mohs based his scale on ten readily available minerals. The minerals are registered on the scale by finding the hardest material they can scratch. The Mohs' scale is relative, not proportional.
The table below compares Mohs' hardness to Absolute hardness (as measured by a sclerometer). The Mohs' scale is relative, meaning it is a purely ordinal scale which lists the minerals in order of hardness but does not show differences of hardness between the minerals as each mineral is only one unit away from the next. This would indicate that Quartz is only 7 times harder than Talc and Diamond
is only 10 times harder than Talc.
The Absolute hardness scale is proportional showing a quantitative difference between the minerals. This indicates that Quartz is actually 100 times harder than Talc and Diamond is actually 1500 times harder than Talc.
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