What is the most significant factor determining a mineral's hardness?
Answer
The type and strength of chemical bonds
The type and strength of the chemical bonds linking the atoms or ions are the most significant factors, as harder minerals possess stronger internal bonds requiring more energy to disrupt.
Related Questions
What property describes a mineral's resistance to scratching or permanent deformation?What is the most significant factor determining a mineral's hardness?Which bond type results in exceptionally tough and hard structures like Diamond?What typically causes an ionic crystal to cleave or break relatively easily when scratched?Who developed the relative hardness scale commonly used by geologists today?How is the Mohs scale accurately described regarding measurement type?How does Graphite differ structurally from Diamond, resulting in a large difference in hardness?What term describes hardness varying based on the direction the scratch test is applied?What common object approximates a hardness of about 5.5 in field testing according to the provided chart?Which mechanical property, independent of hardness, describes a mineral's resistance to breaking or crushing?