Strictly speaking granite is an.
Is granite the hardest rock.
Granite is the rock most often quarried as a dimension stone a natural rock material that has been cut into blocks or slabs of specific length width and thickness.
That is an old classification and i am not sure the classification still exists.
Granite is hard enough to resist abrasion strong enough to bear significant weight inert enough to resist weathering and it accepts a brilliant polish.
Granite comes in at a 6 to 7 on the mohs scale meaning it is relatively hard.
Marble is a degree or two less and though it is still a very hard stone it s rating on the mohs scale is about a 5.
But in the 1960s when i began learning rock classification a quartzite was a sandstone that was composed predominantly of quartz and cemented with sili.
Granites can be predominantly white pink or gray in color depending on their mineralogy the word granite comes from the latin granum a grain in reference to the coarse grained structure of such a completely crystalline rock.
More than that granite is the signature rock of the planet earth itself.
Granite ˈ ɡ r æ n ɪ t is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture.
The igneous rock is comprised of mostly quartz and feldspar along with smaller amounts of various other minerals.
So we strive for the hardest most attainable and attractive option in stones which happens to be granite and quartz.
An example of the hardness of a granite countertop can be seen in the fact that a knife blade will not scratch the surface.