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The Hardest Naturally Occurring Substance on Earth

Yep - You all know from grammar school that is the diamond, which incidentally is what is used to make the stylus of our turntable cartridges.  If it is so hard, and it is going up against some fairly soft vinyl, why do we worry about poor quality LPs damaging the cartridge or stylus?  Sure, I understand the cantilever, but the actual Stylus?  The old phrase for me is "Does Not Compute".   What are your thoughts and insights?
pgaulke60
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Oh and if I may- the hardest naturally occurring substance on Earth is lonsdaleite. 58% harder than diamond. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16610-diamond-no-longer-natures-hardest-material/


pgaulke60 OP
310 posts
 
@millercarbon Your post certainly progresses the context of this conversation.  NOT, again.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Shouldn’t you be able to hear it when the stylus is worn?  I mean, what’s the point in worrying otherwise? It takes a worried man to sing a worried song...🎶
glupson
7,842 posts
 
"Then if you have a turntable that doesn't have a removable head, in order to scope your stylus you need to remove the whole cartridge, correct?"
Even if your turntable has a removable headshell, make sure it can fit under the microscope. Or just get a good-enough magnifying glass.
gs5556
1,239 posts
 
It's simple physics. According to my handbook for sound engineers, the contact area of the stylus is 0.2 millionths of a square inch. That means a tracking force of 1 gram (0.0022 lbs) divided by the contact area is 11,000 psi. That is way more pressure on the diamond than the jack hammers that cut the diamonds out of the mines.
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