• Question: Is there any mineral stronger than diamond?

    Asked by Abbiemooster to Kate on 20 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Kate Dobson

      Kate Dobson answered on 20 Nov 2014:

      Diamond is a very hard mineral, in fact it is the hardest mineral. Geologists classify how hard a mineral is using the Mohs scale. Each mineral on the scale can scratch the minerals lower down the scale, and be scratched by the minerals harder than it. The scale is:
      1. Talc
      2. Gypsum
      3. Calcite
      4. Fluorite
      5. Apatite
      6. Orthoclase
      7. Quartz
      8. Topaz
      9. Corundum
      10. Diamond
      and we teach students to use this to work out what minerals they find.

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