GENERAL GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Hardness (H) is the resistance of a mineral to scratching. It is a property by which minerals may be described relative to a standard scale of 10 minerals known as the Mohs scale of hardness.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Mohs Hardness Scale is used as a convenient way to help identify minerals. A mineral’s hardness is a measure of its relative resistance to scratching, measured by scratching the mineral against another substance of known hardness on the Mohs Hardness Scale.

Detailed explanation-3: -Talc (1), the softest mineral on the Mohs scale has a hardness greater than gypsum (2) in the direction that is perpendicular to the cleavage. Diamonds (10) also show a variation in hardness (the octahedral faces are harder than the cube faces).

Detailed explanation-4: -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 is 4.5.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is an ordinal scale that tests the hardness of minerals based on their ability to scratch softer materials. The Mohs scale runs from 1 (softest) to 10 (hardest). Talc has a Mohs hardness of 1, while diamond has a hardness of 10.