> If we use the US Department of Agriculture’s soil textural triangle, sand is any granular material that is at least 85% sand…
Cool, I just added a single grain of sand to a tonne of snow, now I have a tonne of sand. How convenient.
Is the world really running out of sand?
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Re: Is the world really running out of sand?
#42Every time I watch a practical engineering video I like Grady more and more. Great presenter, interesting videos, great value for the time spent watching. Gets right to the point in the first sentence, and the rest of the video is still worth watching. Add me to the long list of people who heard the bit about desert sand not being suitable for concrete and believed it. I'm happy to be corrected.
I don't even care about sand but he's so great I couldn't stop watching it
Re: Is the world really running out of sand?
#43> If we use the US Department of Agriculture’s soil textural triangle, sand is any granular material that is at least 85% sand… Cool, I just added a single grain of sand to a tonne of snow, now I have a tonne of sand. How convenient.
If you add a single grain of sand to a tonne of snow, it’s not 85% sand.
Re: Is the world really running out of sand?
#44> If we use the US Department of Agriculture’s soil textural triangle, sand is any granular material that is at least 85% sand… Cool, I just added a single grain of sand to a tonne of snow, now I have a tonne of sand. How convenient.
How does that one grain become 85% of a tonne?
Re: Is the world really running out of sand?
#45Bonus points for articles that start with a tldr and don't try to bury the lead
The Washington Post headline: >'The Eagle Has Landed' – Two Men Walk on the Moon That is the entire story, in the headline as it should be. I want to know more! The first sentence should add the most relevant added information. It shouldn't be "As a child Neil Armstrong always dreamed about..." burying the next most important detail 2/3 through the article. The importance/relevance/interest should start high, end low…
Holy cow, don't look for recipes on the web. If you're luck any ingredients and instructions are only 2/3 through. More often 23 pages through.
Re: Is the world really running out of sand?
#46If you found this article interesting, definitely give "Material World: A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future" a read. One of the most eye-opening books I've read in the past few years.
Agreed, I read it earlier in the year and found it enlightening.
Re: Is the world really running out of sand?
#47> If we use the US Department of Agriculture’s soil textural triangle, sand is any granular material that is at least 85% sand… Cool, I just added a single grain of sand to a tonne of snow, now I have a tonne of sand. How convenient.
I don’t understand how you got that conclusion — 1 grain of sand is not 85% of the [ton of snow + 1 grain sand]
Re: Is the world really running out of sand?
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not a misspelling, it's jargon. FWIW I prefer it and I think it's valuable to preserve in part because people who dig into it a bit learn about the history of the term and practice of putting publications (especially newspapers) together.
You can prefer one spelling over another, absolutely, but it's a bit too strong to say someone using the actual word "lead" is incorrect.
Oh, I wouldn't correct someone for saying "lead" -- or "intro" or any other variant that makes sense. Leed is right out, though.
Re: Is the world really running out of sand?
#49Betteridge's law never fails! (At least in this case the author immediately answers the question.)
Re: Is the world really running out of sand?
#50We're running out of most everything, in a very The Limits to Growth/World3 kinda of way.
Isaac Asimov was an early writer on this, noting that if the earth's crust was converted into biomass the limiting element was phosphorous --- look at USDA photos of food crops grown w/ and w/o fertilizer including that element for a very sobering view.
Currently, we expend up to 10 calories of petro-chemical energy to get 1 calorie of food energy (depending on food) --- peak oil is still worrisome given how much of the input for fertilizers is from oil.
Sometime in the last century we crossed over from their being more weight in bony fish in the oceans than shipping tonnage to the latter predominating: https://what-if.xkcd.com/33/
My grandfather lived in a time when commercial hunting was outlawed --- I worry my children will live in a time when commercial fishing is no longer feasible.