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Oct 14, 2020 at 14:02 comment added dotancohen Just as we have a cosmic ladder of objects whose usefulness to determine distance have overlapping distances, perhaps materials could be found with overlapping temperature range tolerances to extend the Mohs scales. Talc from 20° to 52°, foo from 45° to 207°, bar from 195° to 538°. So Venusian pyrite would be scratched on a block of bar.
Oct 12, 2020 at 9:31 comment added Oscar Lanzi Did I not distinguish between interiors and surfaces of planets in the.comment?
Oct 12, 2020 at 9:28 comment added Oscar Bravo @OscarLanzi A consequence of gravity is pressure. At core of Jupiter, the pressure is so high that metallic hydrogen might exist. This material would just immediately subliminate to gas st STP.
Oct 12, 2020 at 4:38 comment added Nilay Ghosh It is written here that: "certain types of rock is harder on the surface of the Moon or Mars than it is on Earth, whether it's because the minerals and pressure/temperature ranges are not found or because there are fewer mechanisms allowing deeper rock to rise to the surface".
Oct 12, 2020 at 3:19 comment added user12102 I've just asked How hard is the hardest ice in the solar system?
Oct 12, 2020 at 1:06 comment added Oscar Lanzi "Does gravity affect hardness?" How much? Stress from gravitational forces would be very small compared with the stress scale factors (e.g. tensile strength) of a typical mineral, but deep inside the planet it could get big. Compressed material deep inside could well be harder than what we find on a planetary surface. Mineral hardness at STP/NTP is not possible with a material like nitrogen and yet their hardness and strength are important for building geological features on outer solar system bodies.
Oct 12, 2020 at 0:49 comment added aroth "Thus a distinction must be made between hardness of a Venusian mineral on Venus versus hardness under Earth-ambient conditions." - This can be resolved by stipulating STP/NTP when performing hardness tests. Wonder if a concept of "standard gravity" would also be needed...does gravity affect hardness?
Oct 12, 2020 at 0:38 history edited Oscar Lanzi CC BY-SA 4.0
Chasing typos.
Oct 12, 2020 at 0:29 history edited Oscar Lanzi CC BY-SA 4.0
edited body
Oct 11, 2020 at 22:41 history answered Oscar Lanzi CC BY-SA 4.0