Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is the world really running out of sand?

practical.engineering

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 218 posts

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#121

Post by dataflow »

blitzar wrote: post #111
lb1lf wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed! Then there is all kinds of specialty sands - say, when replacing the sand in our local athletics union long jump pits, I learned that one should use sand from river beds (as opposed to sand crushed at a plant) as the river sand is much less likely to cause abrasions, seeing as all the sharp edges have been worn away as the sand has been shifted back and forth by the river current... Sand is not just sand.

The sand people have over 50 different words for sand.

A few examples would be nice!

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#122

Post by whartung »

mcculley wrote: post #79

One thing that surprised me when I started running a tugboat business: A country can be both an exporter and importer of sand. Sand of one type goes from the U.S. to The Bahamas to be used in concrete. Sand of another type goes from The Bahamas to the U.S. to be used in aquariums. Specialty sands go to make regulation volleyball courts.

Just marveling as an old school computer programming geek that I happen to be in a forum that also includes someone in the tugboat business.

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#124

Post by delichon »

lb1lf wrote: post #103
mcculley wrote: post #79

One thing that surprised me when I started running a tugboat business: A country can be both an exporter and importer of sand. Sand of one type goes from the U.S. to The Bahamas to be used in concrete. Sand of another type goes from The Bahamas to the U.S. to be used in aquariums. Specialty sands go to make regulation volleyball courts.

Indeed! Then there is all kinds of specialty sands - say, when replacing the sand in our local athletics union long jump pits, I learned that one should use sand from river beds (as opposed to sand crushed at a plant) as the river sand is much less likely to cause abrasions, seeing as all the sharp edges have been worn away as the sand has been shifted back and forth by the river current... Sand is not just sand.

The best night's sleep I ever had was on the sand of a turn in a dry creek bed, after a very long day's hike. It must have had a big rock underneath that caught the day's warmth and kept me toasty all night. And the sand itself felt like floating on a cloud. It was a magical place. And one of the stupidest I ever slept in due to the risk of flash floods.

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#125

Post by [deleted] »

delichon wrote: post #124
lb1lf wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed! Then there is all kinds of specialty sands - say, when replacing the sand in our local athletics union long jump pits, I learned that one should use sand from river beds (as opposed to sand crushed at a plant) as the river sand is much less likely to cause abrasions, seeing as all the sharp edges have been worn away as the sand has been shifted back and forth by the river current... Sand is not just sand.

The best night's sleep I ever had was on the sand of a turn in a dry creek bed, after a very long day's hike. It must have had a big rock underneath that caught the day's warmth and kept me toasty all night. And the sand itself felt like floating on a cloud. It was a magical place. And one of the stupidest I ever slept in due to the risk of flash floods.

[deleted]

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#127

Post by 7e »

blitzar wrote: post #111
lb1lf wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed! Then there is all kinds of specialty sands - say, when replacing the sand in our local athletics union long jump pits, I learned that one should use sand from river beds (as opposed to sand crushed at a plant) as the river sand is much less likely to cause abrasions, seeing as all the sharp edges have been worn away as the sand has been shifted back and forth by the river current... Sand is not just sand.

The sand people have over 50 different words for sand.

They identify as and prefer to be called Tusken Raiders, thank you very much.

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#128

Post by snypher »

alex-moon wrote: post #120

"Concrete blows most other materials out of the water." In fact, according to Wikipedia, concrete is the "second-most-used substance in the world after water" - I was on the Concrete Wikipedia article while I read this as I realised it was a thing I have never thought about despite its ubiquity. Amazing how that can happen.

What about eg air, wood? Used by mass or volume or?

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#130

Post by slt2021 »

cdchn wrote: post #104
larsrc wrote: post #81

We fools here in Germany sometimes _pay_ to get rid of excess electricity when it's very sunny and windy. How about having some rock crushing machines that instead use that cheap electricity to make more sand? Thanks for the puns, too.

I hate to say this, but why aren't the Bitcoin miners jumping all over that?

Related: Bitcoin miner RIOT made $32 mln by reducing or being willing to reduce if needed — its energy use consumption.

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/03/texas-bitcoin-profit...

A company such as Riot also can profit by buying power at negotiated rates ahead of time — retail power companies allow big companies to lock in prices that way — then selling it back into the state market when energy prices soar during extreme heat or cold. In Riot’s case, when electricity prices soared during the summer heat wave, Riot sold power back to TXU, a Dallas-based electricity provider, which sold it back to the grid.

But if the value of Bitcoin is low and the cost of electricity is high, crypto companies can make more money selling power than mining Bitcoin. In August 2023, Riot reported selling 300 Bitcoins for a net proceeds of $8.6 million. Meanwhile, the company said it earned $24.2 million in credits to its electric bill for selling power back to the grid.

Post reply on HN