what is the hardest mineral

The hardest natural mineral is diamond on the Mohs hardness scale.

Quick Scoop

So… what is the hardest mineral?

• The hardest known natural mineral on Earth is diamond, with a Mohs hardness of 10.

• On the classic Mohs scale, diamond sits at the very top and can scratch all other listed minerals, while only another diamond can scratch it.

• Diamond is a crystalline form of carbon with an extremely rigid atomic structure, which gives it this exceptional hardness.

But is anything harder than diamond?

• In terms of natural minerals , diamond is still considered the hardest that has been clearly measured and verified.

• Some rare or theoretical materials, like lonsdaleite (a hexagonal “diamond-like” form of carbon) and certain superhard synthetic materials, are predicted or claimed to be harder, but they are not the standard textbook answer to “what is the hardest mineral?” and often aren’t well‑characterized as common minerals.

How hardness is measured (super quick)

• The Mohs scale is a relative hardness scale from 1 (talc) to 10 (diamond) based on which minerals can scratch others.

• Diamond at 10 is about five times harder than corundum (rubies and sapphires) at 9 on this relative scale.

If you see a quiz or forum question asking “What is the hardest mineral?” , the expected one‑word answer is: Diamond.

TL;DR: When someone asks “what is the hardest mineral,” they mean the hardest natural mineral on the Mohs scale, and that’s diamond.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.