Mohs scale of mineral hardness incorporates additional substances that may fall between levels: Comparison between hardness (Mohs) and hardness (Vickers): 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
Scratch hardness Wooddell, working at the Carborundum Company, extended the scale further by using resistance to abrasion, and extrapolating the scale based on seven for quartz and nine for corundum, resulting in a value of 42.4 for South American brown diamond bort. Resistance to abrasion is less affected by surface variations than other methods of indentations. There is a linear relationship between cohesive energy density (lattice energy per volume) and Wooddell wear resistance, occurring between corundum (H=9) and diamond (H=42.5). Scratch hardness Scratch hardness tests are used to determine the hardness of a material to scratches and abrasion. The earliest test was