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What is the Mohs
Hardness Scale
What is the Mohs Hardness Scale? The Mohs Hardness Scale characterizes
the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a
harder material to scratch a softer material.
Mohs Hardness
Scale - History & Biography of Friedrich Mohs (1773 - 1839)
The Mohs Hardness Scale is named after Friedrich Mohs (1773 - 1839) who
was a German geologist. Friedrich Mohs studied physics, chemistry and
mathematics at University and then continued his studies at the Mining
Academy in Freiberg. His interest in diamonds started in earnest in 1801
when he became a foreman at a mine. Friedrich Mohs then moved to Austria
identifying the minerals in a private collection of a Banker. During
this time he developed a system for classifying minerals by their
physical characteristics. Up to this point minerals had always been
classified by their chemical composition. In 1812 Friedrich Mohs created
a hardness scale which has subsequently been called the Mohs' scale of
mineral hardness.
Mohs Hardness
Scale
Among the physical properties of the Diamond that of hardness is
pre-eminent ; a quality in which it so exceeds all other bodies that it
can penetrate them without being itself even scratched. On the Mohs
scale diamond has a hardness of 10 - a diamond is the hardest naturally
occurring substance known to man.
Diamonds are Forever...
The Mohs Hardness
Table
The Mohs Hardness Scale characterizes the scratch resistance of various
minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer
material. It is easy to understand as Mohs used ordinary materials of
known hardness to approximate the position of a mineral on the scale.
The Mohs Hardness Scale follows:
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