The size of individual sand particles. These are usually broken-down pieces of rock, shell, or coral.
Numbers in the News: Sand
Check out some facts and figures about a summertime staple: sand!
STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE SOURCE (SAND PARTICLES); SHUTTERSTOCK.COM (ALL OTHER IMAGES)
0.05 TO 2.00 MILLIMETERS
7,500,000,000,000,000,000
The estimated number of grains of sand on Earth.
HENNING BAGGER/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
69 FEET
The height of the world’s tallest sandcastle. It was built in Denmark in 2021.
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
15TH CENTURY
When Italian artisans first melted sand into completely transparent glass, making it possible to create microscopes and other scientific tools.
50 BILLION TONS
The amount of sand used each year by the construction industry, mainly to make concrete—a mix of cement and sand—for skyscrapers, sidewalks, and highways.
TAKE IT FURTHER: About 330,000 cubic meters of concrete was used to build the Burj Khalifa—the world’s tallest building—in Dubai. If about one-fourth of that concrete is sand, how much sand was used during construction?
SOURCES: GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS, THE UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMME, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION, THE WORLD IN A GRAIN: THE STORY OF SAND AND HOW IT TRANSFORMED CIVILIZATION BY VINCE BEISER
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