The Gemstone Detective
What Scratches a Diamond?
What will scratch a diamond? Well, only another diamond. Diamonds are the hardest of all gemstones registering a 10 on the Moh’s Scale of Hardness. What can a diamond scratch? Well, only another diamond plus all the other gemstones in the mineral world. What is the Moh’s Scale of Hardness and what do gemologists mean when we say a gemstone’s hardness?The Moh’s scale of hardness was developed in 1822 by Frederich Mohs. This scale is a chart of relative hardness of the various minerals with 1 being the softest up to 10, the hardest. Succinctly put, Moh’s scale is a...