There is a need for precision in this very complicated modern world. We as a species have moved out of the caves, past the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages and into the Space Age, the precision world of today. Here we manufacture unusual items which must withstand the ravages of great temperatures, zero gravity and function inside the body without being rejected as a foreign invader. If you ask for something flat, really flat, the measurements will be in degrees of light refraction. Any two of these flat, really flat, items would be co-joined if placed one on top of the other and would be impossible to separate. In a lab in Florida engineers created a very thin thread of gold. They were, obviously, proud of their achievement and sent it off to another lab in Germany only to have it returned with three holes drilled in the body of the thread. This is definitely not the Stone Age.

This a world where instruments and testing are vital. The world in which the Knoop Hardness Tester has a real place.

This instrument measures the micro-hardness of various material both natural and alloyed. The instrument uses a diamond pyramid shaped point to make contact with the material to be tested and once a small amount of pressure is applied the results are observable and measurable under intense microscopic examination. This results in a number, a score, for the micro-hardness of the tested material.

Diamond has a measured hardness of 7000 while tooth enamel measures at 343 and gold foil a very soft 69.

Frederick Knoop working with the National Bureau of Standards was the developer of this scale back in 1939. He recently passed away in California.

Many people are saddened by the lack of interest in science and things scientific in the world today. Those people who disdain and disregard science might consider moving back in time into the mindset and caves of others with a similar lack of interest in science.