Explore the Hidden World of Sand

(magnifiedsand.com)

133 points

by RAAx7074 days ago |

29 comments

by fzeindl31 minutes ago|

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Since sand is a non-renewable resource that is needed for construction, there’s a lot of illegal activity going on.

In India, illegal sand mining is the country's largest organized criminal activity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_theft

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_sand_trade

by blakesterz4 hours ago|

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John McPhee had a great New Yorker article (which I think was also in the collection Irons in the Fire), where he wrote about how U.S. geologists used sand found in the Japanese "Fu-Go" bombs that made it to the NW US to figure out their launch sites from specific beaches near Tokyo.

It starts on the 9th page here

https://gwern.net/doc/technology/1996-mcphee.pdf

by TechIsCool3 hours ago|

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I think the rotating photos create a poor UX. The purpose of this layout it seems is to let users view the images carefully and study the details, but the slideshow effect makes that difficult.

by richardkielbasa55 minutes ago|

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I agree, furthermore the two dots at the bottom of each "slideshow" feel like poor design

Why overlay anything on top of something like that?

by jhaile2 hours ago|

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From a casual browsing perspective, I liked it. However, it'd be nice to have it pause when you hover over one - or something like that. To get the best of both worlds.

by illumanaughty1 hours ago|

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I mean if your intent is to view the images carefully and study the details why not click through to the details page and see larger, more detailed photos?

by jonathaneunice3 hours ago|

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Love this!

I've heard that desert sand is fundamentally smoother than beach or river sand. Would love to see some examples of non-beach sand side-by-side with these glorious samples.

by observationist3 hours ago|

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https://sandatlas.org/desert-sand/

Ask and ye shall receive.

by amelius51 minutes ago|

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I would also like to see what happens if various types of sand are heated to various temperatures.

by rationalist1 hours ago|

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FYI, in many countries and U.S. states, it's illegal to take sand from a beach.

Cool website though.

(Also, in many U.S. parks, it's illegal to take rocks, sticks, or other natural material.)

by kickopotomus1 hours ago|

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That's a tad pedantic. Everyone takes sand from the beach. That's simply the nature of going to a beach. The spirit of those laws is to prevent people from taking large quantities of sand for some personal or commercial purpose.

by realslimjd1 hours ago|

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But is it legal to take a microscope to the beach?

by rationalist1 hours ago|

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Not that I am aware of. I wouldn't suggest doing that in North Korea though (or possessing any type of scientific or other measuring instrument there).

The website shows pictures of the sand collection and the microscope. It does not appear to be at a beach.

by bandofthehawk1 hours ago|

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It would be nice if they included zoomed out pictures as well, is hard to tell what the beaches look like in person from the magnified sand.

by illumanaughty1 hours ago|

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If you click into one of the examples they have a photo of a hand holding a sample plus photos of the beach.

by Animats48 minutes ago|

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Well, here's a video which ends with a hand holding a sample.[1] It's a sand-making plant. Big rocks go in, and repeated crushing makes them into sand-sized rocks.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVBiRPkQ0MI

by coldcity_again3 hours ago|

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This is lovely. I'd hoped to see The Coral Beach on the Isle of Skye[1] featured. In retrospect the bits are maybe a bit large[2] to be called "sand".

I'm sure it's very much frowned upon these days but somewhere I have a 35mm film canister full of the coral fragments.

[1] https://www.isleofskye.com/skye-guide/top-ten-skye-walks/cor... [2] https://www.isleofskye.com/skye-guide/top-ten-skye-walks/cor...

by technothrasher2 hours ago|

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I’ve had a sand collection for many years. I keep small vials on my shelf. From the Namib desert, to the slope of Mt Fuji, to Alaskan tundra. It’s a fun way to catalog places I’ve been.

by _ache_2 hours ago|

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I come from a island where its common to pain with sand. About one hundred beach, around two hundred colors, green is hard to make.

I learned that local sand composition is very affected by local geology.

by jandrese2 hours ago|

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I mean it makes sense that the sand is made of the same stuff as your local rocks, that's where it came from. Sure it washes around a bit in the surf but it's not like it's floating around the world on the ocean currents, at least not in massive quantities. I'm sure there are bits stuck in driftwood or whatnot but the vast majority should sink to the bottom.

by wafflemaker2 hours ago|

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This is just amazing to look at. Incredible, that there are shells as little as grains of sand.

These pictures would make great wallpapers.

by max_3 hours ago|

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I remember reading about a case where a murderer was tied to the crime scene just by analysing the quality of soil on his shoes.

It seemed far fetched then, but after seeing these pictures it really makes sense.

by SegfaultSeagull2 hours ago|

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This is fantastic! Excellent share. Though I object vigorously to its exclusion of any beach in California. Scandalous!

by metaltyphoon2 hours ago|

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No sand from Brazil with such a huge coastline?

by jolt422 hours ago|

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Only one from Mexico, definitely need more.

by dylan6041 hours ago|

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I'm sure they'd be more than happy to use any samples you might want to go to the expense of acquiring and sending to them.

by kalcode3 hours ago|

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Very neat, never thought about how different beaches are. Like the sites theme, easy to read as well.

by functional_dev1 hours ago|

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I learned recently that white sand is mostly parrotfish poop... they eat coral and then it becomes sand

by bronlund3 hours ago|

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This is quality content! A peek into the real wonders of the world and not the usual opinionated slop we are getting way too used to.