For most
people, a vacation looks like playing in the sand on a sunny beach. While you may be annoyed as you clean sand
out of every crevasse for weeks after your beach trip, take the opportunity to
recognize the 4.5-billion-year history of sand!
Sand can
be found all over, from the beach to backyard creeks, but what is it? As water
and wind interact with rock, sand is the tiny, eroded particles from years of
this process, but sand can also be composed of seashells, coral, and minerals. Sand
is just tiny pieces of what used to be huge rocks!
The
appearance of sand can vary by the materials the sand is composed of. The most
common component in sand is silicon dioxide, or quartz, which makes sand a tan color.
Basalt is an igneous rock formed by quickly cooling lava, and is common in the
Hawaiian Islands, Iceland, and other islands formed by volcanic activity.
Basalt is black in color and is responsible for the black beaches found in these
areas! There are even places with red sand, and this color can be attributed to
high amounts of iron.
If you
were to take a microscope to sand, you would be able to see the tiny fragments
that together form a sandcastle. As huge rocks have been broken down throughout
time, these tiny particles are continuously eroded. On the same beach you may
find angular, jagged sand grains as well as smooth, rounded grains, this can
help determine the age of the sand. The softer the edges of sand, the longer it
has been eroding!
Join our HTHT @ Home Science Experiment and make your own seashell imprint: https://sciencemadefun.net/downloads/EOTD_Sand_Seashells_Lesson.pdf
