All About Jewels: Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry

The Mohs Scale of Hardness measures a substance's hardness, that is, how resistant that substance is to being scratched. This scale was invented by Austrian mineralogist Friedrich Mohs (1773-1839).

In the Mohs scale, one substance is harder than another if it can scratch it. The scale ranges from 1 to 10. For example, a diamond (hardness = 10) will scratch garnet (hardness = 6.5-7.5), but not the other way around, so a diamond is harder than garnet.

Substance	Hardness
Talc	1
Amber, Fingernail, Ivory, Shell, Jet	2.5
Gold	2-3
Bronze, Coral, Pearl	3
Azurite	3.5-4
Iron	4
Glass	5
Lapis lazuli	5-5.5
Turquoise	5-6
Opal	5.5-6.5
Moonstone	6-6.5
Peridot	6.5
Jade	6.5-7
Amethyst, Chalcedony, Quartz, Steel (pocket knife)	7
Garnet	6.5-7.5
Tourmaline	7-7.5
Zircon	7.5
Aquamarine, Emerald	7-8
Spinel, Topaz	8
Chrysoberyl	8.5
Ruby, Sapphire	9
Diamond	10

All About Jewels: Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry

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