Transcript What is The Hardest Known Substance?

What is The Hardest Known
Substance?
By: Kaitlin Guiles
Have you ever wondered what
the hardest known natural
substance on earth is?
Steal? Rocks? Glass? Brass? Copper?
Plastic? Lead? Cement? Metal?
Marble? Iron? Coal? Gold? Silver?
What Is A Diamond Made Up Of?
How Do They Know That It Is
The Hardest Substance?
Where Is It Found?
Standard 6: Interconnectedness.
How is it determined to be the hardest substance?
Key idea one states, “through systems and how parts of
a system interrelate and combine to perform specific
functions. This question relates to standard six key idea
one because people use a hardness scale when
determining the hardness of a mineral. One example of
this could be having the children research the system in
which hardness is tested, and actually test some
minerals themselves.
Standard 4: The Physical Setting.
“What is the substance made up of?”
Key idea three states, “matter is made up of particles
whose properties determine the observable
characteristics of matter and its reactivity.” This
question relates to standard four key idea three
because it is questioning what a substance is made up
of, which in turn will allow children to observe
different properties and characteristics. For example,
the children can observe and describe the properties
of a diamond in order to recognize that all matter has
properties that can be observed.
What Is A Diamond Made Up Of??
• A diamond is made entirely of
carbon (just like the graphite in
a pencil).
• But, while graphite is soft, the
carbon atoms in a diamond form
in such a way as to create the
hardest known natural substance!
How Is That Determined??
• In 1822, Friedrich Moh came up with a method of
comparing hardness that is known today as the Moh’s
scale.
• The softest mineral is rated at a 1, and the hardest
mineral, which is a diamond is a 10.
• A simple way to determine the hardness of something
Hardness of 1
is to use these common objects. Pencil Lead
Finger nail
Hardness of 2.5
Copper penny
Hardness of 3.5
Window Glass
Hardness of 5.5
Steel File
Hardness of 6.5
Where Are They Found?
• Roughly 49% of diamond originate from central and southern Africa.
They are mined from kimberlite and lamproite volcanic pipes that
bring the diamond crystals to the surface from deep in the Earth
where the high pressure and heat allows their formation. Lamproite
and kimberlite are the volcanic rocks that sometimes contain
diamonds.
Sources Of Information
• NY Learns, SUNY Buffalo
http://www.nylearns.org/standards/browsestandards.asp
• Wikipedia, Carbon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon
• Wikipedia, Diamond
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond
• Chard, Moh’s Hardness Scale
http://www.24carat.co.uk/hardnessmohsscaleframe.html
• EGL USA, The worlds most trusted name in Gemology.
http://www.eglusa.com/faqs.html#1