[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Szilard_Mark.jpg” caption=”McMaster chemical engineering alumnus Mark Szilard won $25,000 on Global Television’s Are You Smarter than a Canadian 5th Grader?. Photo courtesy of Global Television.”]Who developed the scale of measurement for the hardness of minerals?
That was the question that finally stumped Mark Szilard, a graduate of the chemical engineering program at McMaster, when he appeared on Global Television's Are You Smarter than a Canadian 5th Grader? last Thursday.

The correct answer is Friedrich Mohs, inventor of the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. The scale ranks the hardness of a mineral based on its ability to scratch other minerals.

Szilard answered Rockwell, which was close but not correct. The Rockwell scale is used to measure the hardness of materials, not minerals, by applying increasing loads and measuring the depth of indentation.

Answering the question correctly would have netted Szilard $175,000 and moved him to within three questions of the $1-million grand prize.

He still earned $25,000 for answering the first five questions correctly, and walked away remembering just how hard it is to be a fifth grade student.

“It was a great experience and a lot of fun,” said Szilard.