• Question: What is the hardest substance

    Asked by Erin F to Colin, John, Kevin, Shikha, Triona on 14 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Shikha Sharma

      Shikha Sharma answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      Hi ErinF,
      I would say the naturally occurring hardest material known on earth till date is a diamond. It has a rating of between 70 and 150 gigapascals on the Vickers hardness scale and ranks 10 on the Mohs hardness scale. But many researchers working in the field of materials have claimed different synthetic materials e.g. Ultrahard Fullerite C60, Wurtzite boron nitride as the hardest substance. But due to complication of synthesizing these materials they are not so popular.
      🙂

    • Photo: Kevin Motherway

      Kevin Motherway answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      The Moh’s hardness scale has Talc as the softest at 1 and Diamond as the hardest at 10 That doesn’t mean it the toughest though. You could easily shatter a diamond with a hammer. Hard is not the same as tough! The drill bits I use at work to drill through rock are tungsten carbide, but when you’re coring you have to use industrial diamond coated drill bits. A company called. “Element 6” in Shannon manufacture industrial diamonds for among other things drill bits. Element no. 6 is of course……..Carbon! What diamonds are made of

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