Thursday, April 24, 2014

Sand: The Gritty Reality



You see sand in lots of places: the beach, on the playground, in gardens, as part of buildings. We even talk about sand in our eyes. But what about sand in windows and computers? Did you know that sand is the second most common element on earth (oxygen is first).  Sand is likely to be more important than you ever dreamed of.

CONNECT:
Not all sand is created equal; did you know that the best beaches are ranked by 50 criteria?  Take a look how sand is rated: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/olympusmicd/galleries/oblique/seasand1.html.
Watch how glass is made – from sand: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Glass
How does an hourglass measure time? The Library of Congress knows: http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/hourglass.html

CREATE:
Search “sand” at http://kinderart.com/. You’ll find lots of sand-based art activities to do: sand painting, sand jars, even dinosaur treasure eggs.
Learn how to do sand sculpting at http://www.virtualnjshore.com/tbsandcastles.html
There are a surprising number of statistics about sand. Try a Google image search on “sand statistics.’ Any surprises?

CARE:
You can contribute to the global virtual sand collection: http://faculty.pasadena.edu/dndouglass/sand/sandmap.htm
Have fun and be eco-friendly by make recycled sand and water toys: http://www.inhabitots.com/how-to-make-recycled-sand-and-water-toys/
Find out about the importance of reefs, including sand ones, and how you can help protect them: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/reef/?ar_a=1

CAREERS:
Sand is used in manufacturing, whether to sand down items or build them. Sand is used in energy, such as the oil industry. Sand is used in science: archeology, chemistry, physics, oceanography, and so on. Sand is part of the tourist industry too. The jobs associated with sand may be as numerous as the grains of sand on the beach!
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Sand.html
http://www.sand.org/

BTW: Sand in your eyes isn’t really sand; it’s rheum – dried mucus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheum)

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