Mohsasteikon

Mohsasteikon, also known as the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, is a qualitative ordinal scale that 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 scale ranges from 1 to 10, with 1 being the softest (talc) and 10 being the hardest (diamond). Each mineral on the scale can scratch any mineral below it and be scratched by any mineral above it. For example, a mineral with a hardness of 5 (apatite) can scratch minerals with hardnesses of 1 through 4, but will be scratched by minerals with hardnesses of 6 through 10. The Mohs scale is widely used in mineralogy and materials science to identify and classify minerals based on their hardness. It is important to note that the Mohs scale is not a linear scale; the hardness difference between adjacent minerals increases as the numbers increase. Additionally, the scale is not applicable to all materials, such as metals, which have different hardness scales.