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HARDNESS
HARDNESS
HARDNESS
3 Hardness
The figure shows the minerals associated with specific hardness values, together with
some common items readily available for use in field testing and mineral identification.
The hardness values run from 1 to 10, with 10 being the hardest; however, the scale is
not linear. Diamond defines a hardness of 10 and is actually about four times harder
than corundum, which is 9. A steel pocketknife blade, which has a hardness value of 5.5,
separates between hard and soft minerals on many mineral identification keys.