Mohs scale of mineral hardness

The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale which 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, some of which are more quantitative.[1] The method of comparing hardness by seeing which minerals can visibly scratch others, however, is of great antiquity, having been mentioned by Theophrastus in his treatise On Stones, c. 300 BC, followed by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia, c. 77 AD.[2][3][4] While greatly facilitating the identification of minerals in the field, the Mohs scale is not suitable for accurately gauging the hardness of industrial materials.[5]

Usage

Despite its simplicity and lack of precision, the Mohs scale is highly relevant for field geologists, who use the scale to roughly identify minerals using scratch kits. The Mohs scale hardness of minerals can be commonly found in reference materials.

Minerals

The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is based on the ability of one natural sample of mineral to scratch another mineral visibly. The samples of matter used by Mohs are all different minerals. Minerals are pure substances found in nature. Rocks are made up of one or more minerals.[6] 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.[7] "Scratching" a material for the purposes of the Mohs scale means creating non-elastic dislocations visible to the naked eye. Frequently, materials that are lower on the Mohs scale can create microscopic, non-elastic dislocations upon materials that have a higher Mohs number. While these microscopic dislocations are permanent and sometimes detrimental to the harder material's structural integrity, they are not considered "scratches" for the determination of a Mohs scale number.[8]

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.[9][10]

Mohs hardness Mineral Chemical formula Absolute hardness[11] Image
1 Talc Mg3Si4O10(OH)2 1
2 Gypsum CaSO4·2H2O 3
3 Calcite CaCO3 9
4 Fluorite CaF2 21
5 Apatite Ca5(PO4)3(OH,Cl,F) 48
6 Orthoclase KAlSi3O8 72
7 Quartz SiO2 100
8 Topaz Al2SiO4(OH,F)2 200
9 Corundum Al2O3 400
10 Diamond C 1600

On the Mohs scale, 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
0.2–0.3 caesium, rubidium
0.5–0.6 lithium, sodium, potassium
1 talc
1.5 gallium, strontium, indium, tin, barium, thallium, lead, graphite, ice[12]
2 hexagonal boron nitride,[13] calcium, selenium, cadmium, sulfur, tellurium, bismuth
2.5–3 gold, silver, aluminium, zinc, lanthanum, cerium, Jet (lignite)
3 calcite, copper, arsenic, antimony, thorium, dentin
3.5 platinum
4 fluorite, iron, nickel
4–4.5 steel
5 apatite (tooth enamel), zirconium, palladium, obsidian (volcanic glass)
5.5 beryllium, molybdenum, hafnium, glass, cobalt
6 orthoclase, titanium, manganese, germanium, niobium, rhodium, uranium
6–7 fused quartz, iron pyrite, silicon, ruthenium, iridium, tantalum, opal, peridot, tanzanite
7 osmium, quartz, rhenium, vanadium
7.5–8 emerald, hardened steel, tungsten, spinel
8 topaz, cubic zirconia
8.5 chrysoberyl, chromium, silicon nitride, tantalum carbide
9 corundum, tungsten carbide
9–9.5 silicon carbide (carborundum), titanium carbide
9.5–10 boron, boron nitride, rhenium diboride, stishovite, titanium diboride
10 diamond, carbonado
>10 nanocrystalline diamond (hyperdiamond, ultrahard fullerite)

Hardness (Vickers)

Comparison between Hardness (Mohs) and Hardness (Vickers):[14]

Mineral
name
Hardness (Mohs) Hardness (Vickers)
kg/mm2
Graphite1–2VHN10=7–11
TinVHN10=7–9
Bismuth2–2½VHN100=16–18
GoldVHN10=30–34
SilverVHN100=61–65
Chalcocite2½–3VHN100=84–87
Copper2½–3VHN100=77–99
GalenaVHN100=79–104
Sphalerite3½–4VHN100=208–224
Heazlewoodite4VHN100=230–254
Carrollite4½–5½VHN100=507–586
Goethite5–5½VHN100=667
Hematite5–6VHN100=1,000–1,100
ChromiteVHN100=1,278–1,456
Anatase5½–6VHN100=616–698
Rutile6–6½VHN100=894–974
Pyrite6–6½VHN100=1,505–1,520
Bowieite7VHN100=858–1,288
EuclaseVHN100=1,310
ChromiumVHN100=1,875–2,000

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Mohs hardness" in Encyclopædia Britannica Online
  2. Theophrastus on Stones. Farlang.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-10.
  3. Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia. Book 37. Chap. 15. ADamas: six varieties of it. Two remedies.
  4. Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia. Book 37. Chap. 76. The methods of testing precious stones.
  5. Hardness. Non-Destructive Testing Resource Center
  6. Learn science, Intermediate p. 42
  7. American Federation of Mineralogical Societies. "Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness". amfed.org
  8. Geels, Kay. "The True Microstructure of Materials", pp. 5–13 in Materialographic Preparation from Sorby to the Present. Struers A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark
  9. Amethyst Galleries' Mineral Gallery What is important about hardness?. galleries.com
  10. Mineral Hardness and Hardness Scales. Inland Lapidary
  11. Mukherjee, Swapna (2012). Applied Mineralogy: Applications in Industry and Environment. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 373–. ISBN 978-94-007-1162-4.
  12. "Ice is a mineral" in Exploring Ice in the Solar System. messenger-education.org
  13. Berger, Lev I. (1996). Semiconductor Materials (First ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0849389122.
  14. http://www.mindat.org

Further reading