Seven things made from Sand

Published on Wed 31 Aug 2011

The chances are you are either just looking forward to spending some time on the beach or have recently returned and are still dusting off the last vestiges of sand from your body. If you’re reading this on the beach, we advise that you stop immediately and enjoy your holiday instead. It can all wait.

Even when you are not lying on a beach, you are surrounded by sand. It holds your drinks, shelters you from the cold, provides windows in both the real and the virtual world, is the raw material of the Information Age and even helps to power your home. By mass its main component, silicon, is the second most common element on the planet.

1. In history.  With such an abundance of materials derived from silicon, it’s no wonder it has always been important to us. Silicon based materials include clay, quartz and flint, all materials that have shaped the history of mankind.

2. Computers. The sand we find on the beach is very different to the almost pure silicon needed to manufacture computer chips. But the days of the silicon chip are numbered. For fifty years we have been able to manipulate the raw material to meet the needs of Moore’s Law which states that computer power doubles every 18 months. We are now approaching the limits of silicon as a material, and from 2015 onwards futurologists predict we will have to turn to quantum and optical computers to increase the performance of technology

3. Getting kids to sleep. The sand man is a popular figure in many cultures, both as a story as part of the bedtime ritual and a way of explaining why we wake up with sand in our eyes. Exactly the sort of story needed by parents who don’t know why it happens. Or perhaps for those who do know, but prefer this version to the boring truth.

4. Solar panels. The European Union has committed to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent before 2020. This means generating some 20 per cent of total energy from renewable sources as well as reducing the total energy requirement by some 20 per cent. If it seems a bit too cutesy having those numbers as a target, this pattern is being repeated around the world, leading to a huge surge in demand for silicon, a vital component in panels. In 1997, demand from the energy industry accounted for 5 per cent of total production. It is now something like 40 per cent.

5. Buildings. Sand is a core component in a number of building materials including plaster and cement. It has been used to create new islands in Dubai and is obviously the raw material for the World Sand Sculpting Championship which took place in Washington State in October. Anybody who’s ever struggled to make a sand castle will be impressed by what is possible when you know what you’re doing.

6. Glass. We spend a major proportion of our lives looking through glass. Computer screens, car windscreens and television screens all act as the filter for how we perceive the world for a major part of the day. In reality, we should spend more time looking out of the window.

7. The beach. Although not all beaches. The World’s dirtiest beach is Kamilo Beach in Hawaii which has sections where the ‘sand’ actually consists of more than 50 per cent washed up, eroded plastic from rubbish in the sea. So you’re better off going to what may be the world’s most beautiful beach at Fernando de Noronha, Brazil which has been named by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.