apatite, cobalt, zirconium, palladium, tooth enamel, obsidian (volcanic glass)
The hardness of the mineral pyrite, or Fool's Gold, is about 6 on the Mohs hardness scale. That's a little harder than a steel knife blade, but not as hard as the mineral quartz
There are two ways. One way is to buy a scratch test kit and follow the instructions. They will tell you to try to scratch minerals of certain hardnesses and find the hardest one it can scratch. For example, if it scratches a mineral with a hardness of 6 but not one with a hardness of 7, the hardness would be between 6 and 7. If you do not have one of those available, you can try scratching common objects. Your fingernail is 1.5, a penny is 2.5, a pocketknife blade is 5.0, window glass is 5.5, a steel file is 6.5, and quartz is 7.0.
Yes. A steel nail has a Mohs hardness greater than that of fluorite.
Basalt scores an 8 on the Moh's scale. This makes it harder than quartz and vanadium, but weaker than boron and titanium carbide. It can easily scratch steel and glass. It is just about as hard as topaz. Basalt is also an igneous rock, formed by hardened lava, which explains why it is so hard.
The individual sand grains are most likely quartz which is harder on the Mohs hardness scale than steel tools and implements.
Copper and steel have hardness of around 3 and 6 respectively on the Mohs scale. You can use them to test any mineral, and roughly estimate its hardness. If it's scratched by copper, it's less than 3, if it's scratched by steel but not by copper, it's between 3 and 6, if neither copper nor steel scratches it, then it's above 6.
The hardness of the mineral pyrite, or Fool's Gold, is about 6 on the Mohs hardness scale. That's a little harder than a steel knife blade, but not as hard as the mineral quartz
Topaz is a common mineral with a hardness of 8 on the Moh's hardness scale. This means it can scratch glass and cannot be scratched with a knife blade or masonry (steel) nail.
The hardness of a steel nail is about 4.5 (About the same hardness of the mineral Fluorite.)
The property of a mineral that is determined by scratching is its hardness. A mineral can be identified by its hardness; for example Talc, which is 1 on Mohs scale of hardness is very soft and can be scratched by a fingernail, as can most common forms of gypsum. Apatite, which is 5 on mohs scale of hardness can be scratched by a steel knife or window glass, whereas Quartz (7) cannot. Diamond is the hardest in the scale at 10, it is almost 4 times as hard as Corundum (9 on mohs scale). Some other ways of determining a type of mineral are: Cleavage/Fracture Chemical Formula Luster Density Streak Specific Gravity Interference colors, twinning, pleochroism & extinction angles can be viewed under an optical microscope with plane and cross polarized light
The property of a mineral that is determined by scratching is its hardness. A mineral can be identified by its hardness; for example Talc, which is 1 on Mohs scale of hardness is very soft and can be scratched by a fingernail, as can most common forms of gypsum. Apatite, which is 5 on mohs scale of hardness can be scratched by a steel knife or window glass, whereas Quartz (7) cannot. Diamond is the hardest in the scale at 10, it is almost 4 times as hard as Corundum (9 on mohs scale). Some other ways of determining a type of mineral are: Cleavage/Fracture Chemical Formula Luster Density Streak Specific Gravity Interference colors, twinning, pleochroism & extinction angles can be viewed under an optical microscope with plane and cross polarized light
No. Quartz is harder than steel (based on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness), and diamond is THE hardest mineral.
Try scratching it with a variety of other objects (fingernail, steel nail, glass) whose hardness is known. Refer to the Mohs Hardness scale for more info on the hardness of specific materials
Hardness
The Mohs scale is used to aid in quick field identification of minerals, along with other techniques. Mohs based the scale on ten minerals that are all readily available. As the hardest known naturally occurring substance, diamond is 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. Hardness Mineral 1 Talc (Mg3Si4O10(OH)2) 2 Gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) 3 Calcite (CaCO3) 4 Fluorite (CaF2) 5 Apatite (Ca5(PO4)3(OH-,Cl-,F-) 6 Orthoclase (KAlSi3O8) 7 Quartz (SiO2) 8 Topaz (Al2SiO4(OH-,F-)2) 9 Corundum (Al2O3) 10 Diamond (C)
Rockwell hardness
There are two ways. One way is to buy a scratch test kit and follow the instructions. They will tell you to try to scratch minerals of certain hardnesses and find the hardest one it can scratch. For example, if it scratches a mineral with a hardness of 6 but not one with a hardness of 7, the hardness would be between 6 and 7. If you do not have one of those available, you can try scratching common objects. Your fingernail is 1.5, a penny is 2.5, a pocketknife blade is 5.0, window glass is 5.5, a steel file is 6.5, and quartz is 7.0.