Scratchability of Glasses

darknumbers

Glass tables can be easily found in many dining areas. But people always complain that they are easily scratchable. Here my friend has tried to use normal plastic (which has very low hardness) to scratch the glass top, what I can observe is it actually give small damages to the surface...

If according to Mohs Hardness Scale (Or some other theoretical tables), glass has higher hardness than normal plastics. But what are the reason behind this?

I'm not an expert nor student in material science. Any explanation will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much!

turbo

You might look into the differences between Flint and Crown glasses. All glass is not
created equal... There are lots of different formulations. Good luck.

As an optician, I advised parents of young or very active children to opt for polycarbonate lenses instead of conventional plastic or glass, because the poly is very shatter-resistant. It scratches very easily, but is as tough as can be.