What Is Sand Made Of?

Sand is a substance found all over the world. From making sandcastles on beaches, to roaming the deserts on a camel, sand is something we have all come into contact with in one form or another.

• What is sand?
  

A gritty, granular material, sand is mainly composed of finely divided pieces of rock and mineral deposits. Depending on its geographical location the exact composition of sand can vary greatly, with local rock sources and even fossilized sea-life present in its make-up.

The most commonly found component of sand is in the form of silicon dioxide, also known as quartz. While the white tropical beaches of the Caribbean are formed by eroded Limestone particles, which itself contains once organic fragments of shells and coral. 

• Types of sand

Other types of sand are derived from volcanic basalts and obsidian, giving them a much darker often black color, such as the beaches of Tenerife.

A sand particle itself will range in size from about 1/16mm up to around 2mm, and have a multitude of uses from agriculture through to glass making.

• Usefulness

Sand is the primary substance used in the production of bricks, and in masonry is added to cement to make mortar. It is also used in the process of sandblasting, a type of abrasive blasting that cleans and polishes any solid surface it comes into contact with.

Sand is a very useful substance and this is how it is made...

When a solid rock is exposed to the action of the wind, rain and frost and broken into smaller particles, if the particles are small enough ( between 0.05 mm in diameter and 2.5 mm in diameter), these particles are called sand.

Since sand is formed of small grains of the minerals making up the rocks, any of these minerals may be found in sand. The principal mineral found in sand is quartz, because it is very hard and is quite abundant. Some sands have as much as 99 percent pure quartz. Other minerals sometimes found in sand are feldspar, calcite, mica, iron ores and small amount of garnet, tourmaline and topaz. Sand is found wherever rocks have been exposed to the weather. One of the principal sand forming regions is the beach of a sea. The action of the tides upon the rocks, the action of windblown sand rubbing against the rocks and the dissolving of some of the minerals in the rocks by the salt water, all combine to make sand.

It varies but a common constituent is SILICA in the form of QUARTZ

I went to Rhodes on holiday, and I thought why is this sand so hard and not soft like England's
sand, so I asked my Dad "are the waves as strong as England's waves" he said "no" so then I
thought well if the waves crash the stones and turn them into sand if the waves are not as strong
they wont crash as much so then they wont turn into sand as much. Thats what I think!

  Age:9
  Name:Emily

Rocks

A type of fish eat coral and then it poops it out.

Crushed rock and salt

Crushed down rocks

Sand is composed of rocks. As a little girl I used to think they were made from fallen sand castles, but I was mistaken.