Mohs scale of mineral hardness Mohs scale of mineral hardness The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material. Created in 1812 by German geologist and mineralogist Friedrich Mohs, it is one of several definitions of hardness in materials science, some of which are more quantitative. The method of comparing hardness by seeing which minerals can visibly scratch others is, however, of great antiquity, having been mentioned by Theophrastus in his treatise "On Stones", c. 300 BC, followed by Pliny the Elder in his "Naturalis Historia", c.
Réaumur scale was used commonly in some parts of Europe until at least the mid-19th century, and in parts of Russia until the early 20th. Its main modern uses are in some Italian and Swiss factories for measuring milk temperature during cheese production, and in the Netherlands for measuring temperature when cooking sugar syrup for desserts and sweets. Réaumur scale The Réaumur scale (; °Ré, °Re, °r), also known as the "octogesimal division", is a temperature scale for which the freezing and boiling points of water are defined as 0 and 80 degrees respectively. The scale is named for René Antoine Ferchault