The Mohs scale of mineral hardness 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 mineralogist Friedrich Mohs and is one of several definitions of hardness in materials science. The method, however, is of great antiquity, having first been mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia circa

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.

The Mohs scale is a purely ordinal scale. For example, corundum (9) is twice as hard as topaz (8), but diamond (10) is almost four times as hard as corundum. The table below shows comparison with absolute hardness measured by a sclerometer, with pictorial examples.

Hardness |  Mineral  | Absolute Hardness
1                 Talc                    1
2                 Gypsum              2
3                 Calcite                9
4                 Fluorite               21
5                 Apatite               48
6                 Feldspar             72
7                 Quartz                100
8                 Topaz                 200
9                 Corundum          400
10               Diamond            1500

Hardness   Substance or Mineral
1                Talc, graphite
2.5 to 3      Pure gold, silver, aluminium
3                Calcite, copper
4                Fluorite
4 to 4.5      Platinum
4 to 5         Iron
5               Apatite
6               Orthoclase
6               Titanium
6.5            Iron pyrite
6 to 7        Glass, fused quartz
7               Quartz
7 to 7.5     Garnet
7 to 8        Hardened steel
7.5            Tungsten
8               Topaz
8.5            Chrysoberyl, chromium
8.5 to 9     Tungsten carbide
9               Corundum
9 to 9.5     Carborundum
<10           Ultra-hard fullerite
10             Diamond
>10          Aggregated diamond nanorods, Rhenium diboride

Grandgemstones