Mohs Hardness Scale
Geologists rely on the Mohs Hardness Scale to measure the hardness of minerals.[1][2] The measurements are made by scratching. Either the geologist's new sample is scratched against the reference samples Geologist carry, or the geologist tries scratching new samples with some of the reference samples.
To determine hardness of a sample the Geologist finds the highest sample on the scale it can leave a scratch on. The sample has to be harder than that reference samples. And it has to be softer than all the reference samples in their Mohs Hardness Scale kit.
The scale has ten reference samples, for ten graduations.[1]
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1
"Minerals". National Park Service. 2025-08-26. Archived from the original on 2017-04-04. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
The Mohs Hardness Scale is used to help identify minerals. A mineral's hardness is a measure of a mineral's resistance to scratching. This is measured by scratching it against another substance of known hardness on the Mohs Hardness Scale.
- ↑
"Mohs Hardness Scale (U.S. National Park Service)". National Park Service. 2023-04-12. Archived from the original on 2025-12-25. Retrieved 2026-01-08.
This method is especially useful for identifying minerals in the field because you can test minerals against some very common objects (fingernail, a penny, a nail). The scale is named for its creator, the German geologist and mineralogist Friedrich Mohs.