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Is the world really running out of sand?

practical.engineering

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Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#51

Post by WillAdams »

throw0101b wrote: post #7

The book mentioned, The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization by Vince Beiser: > The World in a Grain is the compelling true story of the hugely important and diminishing natural resource that grows more essential every day, and of the people who mine it, sell it, build with it--and sometimes, even kill for it. It's also a provocative examination of the serious human and environmenta…

Another book on this is:

_Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization_ by Ed Conway

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112974899-material-world

>Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium. These fundamental materials have created empires, razed civilizations, and fed our ingenuity and greed for thousands of years. Without them, our modern world would not exist, and the battle to control them will determine our future

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#52

Post by kylehotchkiss »

bee_rider wrote: post #25
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #19

The first time I heard about this, I wondered why we didn't just blast desert sand at itself to rough it up to give it better properties. Sure it takes some energy but the sand mafia probably isn't getting cheaper.

It turns we’re all in the pocket of big sand. Which I guess is better than having big sand in our pockets, as that would scratch up our phones. Then, we’d need new phones, or at least new phone screens… either way, big sand wins!

you're forgetting how much damage it'd do in the charging port!

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#53

Post by pinkmuffinere »

bregma wrote: post #45
colechristensen wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I’ve been using this app “just the recipe” to avoid this problem. It’s not perfect, but saves me 90% of the time. I think I found it on hn originally.

I have no connection to the app, aside from being a happy user

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#54

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

WillAdams wrote: post #50
justinator wrote: post #39

We'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…

> I worry my children will live in a time when commercial fishing is no longer feasible.

I worry that my parents lived in a time when commercial fishing was no longer feasible, but no one noticed and kept siphoning all the seafood anyway.

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#55

Post by [deleted] »

eichin wrote: post #5

Ironically, we just hit an entirely different "sand catastrophe" - https://mastodon.social/@mimsical/113232531800424706 > the crucibles used to create ingots of silicon which become microchips are made from an ultra-pure quartz sand -- and 70% of the world's supply comes from just one place in North Carolina [Spruce Pine]

[deleted]

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#57

Post by tminima »

I noticed that the two bars were breaking differently under the hydraulic press. One was crumbling and the other (manufactured) was exploding. There was no mention of this effect in the video. It couldn't be the due to force because in the 2nd half the manufactured bar broke at a lower force. Could this factor has consequences on how manufactured sand concrete behaves with natural phenomenon (hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, etc.)

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#58

Post by citizenpaul »

WillAdams wrote: post #50
justinator wrote: post #39

We'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…

>I worry my children will live in a time when commercial fishing is no longer feasible.

We are already well into it unfortunately. I've seen enough anecdotal evidence from old fishermen that we have already depleted and disrupted the sea biomass so much that it is already changed forever.

- Old sushi chefs talking about how there are numerous fish they can no longer get at any price that were common when they were young.

- Old fishing photos show smaller and smaller "prize" catches over time.

- Old fisherman talking about how they used to fish by slapping oars at the bay then simply hand/net catching the fish types they wanted near shore.

- Old whalers talking about how they could simply go out and pick what type of large catch they wanted and bring it back. Now they can go days or weeks without a single catch of anything.

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#59

Post by fshbbdssbbgdd »

rootusrootus wrote: post #20

Every 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 almost feel like his videos are anti-clickbait. On my YouTube recommendations page, often his title and cover image are the least eye-grabbing, but the actual video is always satisfying.

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#60

Post by jhwhite »

rootusrootus wrote: post #20

Every 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.

> 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.

Cristobol and Hank's whole business strategy down the drain! (From Barry)

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