Mineralogy classified into density (often given as specific gravity); measures of mechanical cohesion (hardness, tenacity, cleavage, fracture, parting); macroscopic visual properties (luster, color, streak, luminescence, diaphaneity); magnetic and electric properties; radioactivity and solubility in hydrogen chloride (). "Hardness" is determined by comparison with other minerals. In the Mohs scale, a standard set of minerals are numbered in order of increasing hardness from 1 (talc) to 10 (diamond). A harder mineral will scratch a softer, so an unknown mineral can be placed in this scale by which minerals it scratches and which scratch it. A few minerals such as calcite and kyanite
Rosiwal scale with corundum with a base value of 1000. The Rosiwal scale is used in mineralogy in the same way as Mohs scale and Knoop scale. Rosiwal scale The Rosiwal scale is a hardness scale, with its name given in memory of the Austrian geologist August Karl Rosiwal. The Rosiwal scale bases its measure on absolute values, unlike the Mohs scale whose values are relative values, its interest is relegated to the amateur or an approach that makes it useful in the research field ('in situ'). The Rosiwal method (also called Delesse and Rosiwal) is basically a method of petrographic analysis