Students will have another opportunity to reinforce one of the properties of minerals known as hardness.
For this lab activity, students will utilize three common objects, namely, fingernail, pencil tip (graphite), and a penny, as well as another mineral or rock selected by the classroom teacher. Students will carry out the scratch test on each of these objects per our classroom instructions to determine which object has the highest number on Mohs Scale of Hardness as compared to the lowest number on that scale. Then students will collect and analyze their findings and report their work to their teacher.