Name: Jerolyn W.
Status: Educator
Age: 40s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: April 29, 2004
Question:
Is there anything that can scratch a diamond? Will another diamond scratch
it?
Replies:
A diamond has a hardness of 10 on a scale of 10 known as Mohs Hardness Scale. A diamond can
scratch any other mineral and only a diamond can scratch a diamond.
An old myth/legend to test for a diamond was to see if the mineral would scratch glass and
if it did, it was a diamond. Actually there are many other minerals that will scratch glass
including quartz (very common), corundum (gem forms are called sapphire and ruby), garnet,
topaz, and others.
Steven Miller
Generally, another diamond will scratch it. I do not recommend scratching
jewel grade or cut diamonds on anything (like a mirror) or with another
diamond. There may be planes of weakness in the natural crystal structure
and the diamond can split.
Pat Rowe
Diamonds will scratch diamonds, with difficulty. However, just recently
synthetic "diamonds" have been made that are harder than "natural" diamonds.
This is very recent so a Google search should snag a reference easily.
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