Mohs hardness
Scratch resistance scale
Mohs hardness is a scale measuring how resistant a mineral is to scratching, ranking from 1 (talite, softest) to 10 (diamond, hardest).
A mineral can scratch anything softer than itself and be scratched by anything harder.
The scale is relative, not linear—diamond is many times harder than corundum (9), though they're only one point apart.
Quartz has a Mohs hardness of 7.
- mineralNaturally formed crystalline solid
- scratchSuperficial wound or mark
- scratch testSkin allergen sensitivity assessment
- diamondCrystallized carbon gemstone
- talcHydrated magnesium silicate
scale · gemstone · quartz · topaz · fingernail · copper · steel · glass · abrasion · durability · corundum · feldspar · calcite · gypsum · apatite · scratch-resistant · geology · testing
- mineralogycalcite, quartz, feldspar, mica, olivine
- optical mineralogythin section, extinction, polarized light, isotropic, anisotropic
Mohs hardnesssoftness
Yielding to gentle pressure
malleability · ductility · plasticity · tensile strength · brittleness
hardness, hard, harden, hardened, hardening, harder, hardest, hardly, hardship