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Definition: Mohs Scale |
Mohs ScaleNoun1. A scale of hardness of solids; talc is 0 and diamond is 10; ordering is determined by which substance can scratch another substance. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Mining | Arbitrary quantitative units by means of which the scratch hardness of a mineral is determined. The nonlinear units of hardness are expressed in numbers ranging from 1 through 10, each of which is represented by a mineral that can be made to scratch any other mineral having a lower-ranking number; hence the minerals are ranked from the softest, as follows: talc (1) ranging upward in hardness through gypsum (2), calcite (3), fluorite (4), apatite (5), orthoclase (6), quartz (7), topaz (8), corundum (9), to the hardest, diamond. CF:hardness; Knoop hardness. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Mohs' scale of mineral hardness was created by the German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs to measure hardness. He based it on ten readily available minerals. As it is an ordinal scale, you have to compare two minerals to decide which is harder. The scale is neither linear nor logarithmic: for example, corundum is twice as hard as topaz, but diamond is almost four times as hard as corundum.
The absolute hardness of minerals is measured with a sclerometer. One of the measures of hardness, given in the table, is the Vickers number (HV). It is based on the area of the indentation after applying a standard load.
Hardness Mineral Absolute Hardness
1 Talc (Mg3Si4O10(OH)2) 1
2 Gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) 3
3 Calcite (CaCO3) 9
4 Fluorite (CaF2) 21
5 Apatite (Ca5(PO4)3(OH-,Cl-,F-)) 48
6 Orthoclase (KAlSi3O8) 72
7 Quartz (SiO2) 100
8 Topaz (Al2SiO4(OH-,F-)2) 200
9 Corundum (Al2O3) 400
10 Diamond (C) 1500 The mnemonic traditionally taught to geology students to remember this table is "The Girls Can Flirt And Other Queer Things Can Do." The table has been modified to incorporate additional substances that may fall in between two levels.
Hardness Mineral
1 Liquid
2 Gypsum
3 Calcite
4 Fluorite
5 Apatite
6 Orthoclase
7 Vitreous pure silica
8 Quartz
9 Topaz
10 Garnet
11 Fused zirconia
12 Fused alumina
13 Silicon carbide
14 Boron carbide
15 Diamond Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mohs scale of mineral hardness."
Crosswords: Mohs Scale |
| English words defined with "Mohs scale": hardness. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "Mohs scale": streak plate. (references) |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
mohs scale | 21 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-h-l-m-o-s-s" | |
-2 letters: chaoses, clashes, loaches, mescals, sachems, samechs, schemas, schmoes, shaloms, solaces. | |
-3 letters: almehs, amoles, camels, cameos, cashes, celoms, chases, chasms, chasse, chelas, chemos, choses, closes, coshes, haloes, haoles, hassel, hassle, hosels, laches, lashes, maches, machos, macles, mahoes, mashes, mescal, mochas, mohels, moshes, sachem, samech, scales, schema, schmoe, schmos, selahs, shales, shalom, shames, shamos. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-h-l-m-o-s-s" | |
+2 letters: schoolmates. | |
+3 letters: accomplishes, schoolmaster, smallclothes. | |
+4 letters: accomplishers, chromatolyses, elasmobranchs, schoolmasters. | |
+5 letters: chlamydospores, hemerocallises, lachrymosities, methodicalness, schoolmasterly, thermoplastics. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4D 6F 68 73 53 63 61 6C 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001101 01101111 01101000 01110011 00100000 01010011 01100011 01100001 01101100 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)M o h s   S c a l e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004D 006F 0068 0073 0053 0063 0061 006C 0065 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4781748525369677871 |
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Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
