[HN Gopher] Explore the Hidden World of Sand
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Explore the Hidden World of Sand
Author : RAAx707
Score : 156 points
Date : 2026-03-23 18:59 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (magnifiedsand.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (magnifiedsand.com)
| blakesterz wrote:
| John McPhee had a great New Yorker article (which I think was
| also in the collection Irons in the Fire), where he wrote about
| how U.S. geologists used sand found in the Japanese "Fu-Go" bombs
| that made it to the NW US to figure out their launch sites from
| specific beaches near Tokyo.
|
| It starts on the 9th page here
|
| https://gwern.net/doc/technology/1996-mcphee.pdf
| bronlund wrote:
| This is quality content! A peek into the real wonders of the
| world and not the usual opinionated slop we are getting way too
| used to.
| jonathaneunice wrote:
| Love this!
|
| I've heard that desert sand is fundamentally smoother than beach
| or river sand. Would love to see some examples of non-beach sand
| side-by-side with these glorious samples.
| observationist wrote:
| https://sandatlas.org/desert-sand/
|
| Ask and ye shall receive.
| amelius wrote:
| I would also like to see what happens if various types of
| sand are heated to various temperatures.
| kalcode wrote:
| Very neat, never thought about how different beaches are. Like
| the sites theme, easy to read as well.
| functional_dev wrote:
| I learned recently that white sand is mostly parrotfish poop...
| they eat coral and then it becomes sand
| TechIsCool wrote:
| I think the rotating photos create a poor UX. The purpose of this
| layout it seems is to let users view the images carefully and
| study the details, but the slideshow effect makes that difficult.
| jhaile wrote:
| From a casual browsing perspective, I liked it. However, it'd
| be nice to have it pause when you hover over one - or something
| like that. To get the best of both worlds.
| illumanaughty wrote:
| I mean if your intent is to view the images carefully and study
| the details why not click through to the details page and see
| larger, more detailed photos?
| richardkielbasa wrote:
| I agree, furthermore the two dots at the bottom of each
| "slideshow" feel like poor design
|
| Why overlay anything on top of something like that?
| max_ wrote:
| I remember reading about a case where a murderer was tied to the
| crime scene just by analysing the quality of soil on his shoes.
|
| It seemed far fetched then, but after seeing these pictures it
| really makes sense.
| coldcity_again wrote:
| This is lovely. I'd hoped to see The Coral Beach on the Isle of
| Skye[1] featured. In retrospect the bits are maybe a bit large[2]
| to be called "sand".
|
| I'm sure it's very much frowned upon these days but somewhere I
| have a 35mm film canister full of the coral fragments.
|
| [1] https://www.isleofskye.com/skye-guide/top-ten-skye-
| walks/cor... [2] https://www.isleofskye.com/skye-guide/top-ten-
| skye-walks/cor...
| metaltyphoon wrote:
| No sand from Brazil with such a huge coastline?
| jolt42 wrote:
| Only one from Mexico, definitely need more.
| dylan604 wrote:
| I'm sure they'd be more than happy to use any samples you
| might want to go to the expense of acquiring and sending to
| them.
| SegfaultSeagull wrote:
| This is fantastic! Excellent share. Though I object vigorously to
| its exclusion of any beach in California. Scandalous!
| _ache_ wrote:
| I come from a island where its common to pain with sand. About
| one hundred beach, around two hundred colors, green is hard to
| make.
|
| I learned that local sand composition is very affected by local
| geology.
| jandrese wrote:
| I mean it makes sense that the sand is made of the same stuff
| as your local rocks, that's where it came from. Sure it washes
| around a bit in the surf but it's not like it's floating around
| the world on the ocean currents, at least not in massive
| quantities. I'm sure there are bits stuck in driftwood or
| whatnot but the vast majority should sink to the bottom.
| technothrasher wrote:
| I've had a sand collection for many years. I keep small vials on
| my shelf. From the Namib desert, to the slope of Mt Fuji, to
| Alaskan tundra. It's a fun way to catalog places I've been.
| wafflemaker wrote:
| This is just amazing to look at. Incredible, that there are
| shells as little as grains of sand.
|
| These pictures would make great wallpapers.
| rationalist wrote:
| FYI, in many countries and U.S. states, it's illegal to take sand
| from a beach.
|
| Cool website though.
|
| (Also, in many U.S. parks, it's illegal to take rocks, sticks, or
| other natural material.)
| realslimjd wrote:
| But is it legal to take a microscope to the beach?
| rationalist wrote:
| Not that I am aware of. I wouldn't suggest doing that in
| North Korea though (or possessing any type of scientific or
| other measuring instrument there).
|
| The website shows pictures of the sand collection and the
| microscope. It does not appear to be at a beach.
| kickopotomus wrote:
| That's a tad pedantic. Everyone takes sand from the beach.
| That's simply the nature of going to a beach. The spirit of
| those laws is to prevent people from taking large quantities of
| sand for some personal or commercial purpose.
| dylan604 wrote:
| You may think it is pedantic, but it's not dissimilar to
| those that think "no cop, no stop" is valid. Just because you
| didn't get caught doesn't mean it's not violating the
| regulations.
|
| The spirit of the law is not "large quantities", it's to get
| people used to the idea of letting nature be and not taking
| something just because you want to. If you come across a rock
| that you think is interesting and keep it for yourself,
| you're denying the next person to discover it on their trip.
| If you take a rock or two or maybe three, then so does the
| next person, and the next, well, you get how math works. So
| since people can't be trusted to not take, there exists an
| official policy that says you can't.
| bandofthehawk wrote:
| It would be nice if they included zoomed out pictures as well, is
| hard to tell what the beaches look like in person from the
| magnified sand.
| illumanaughty wrote:
| If you click into one of the examples they have a photo of a
| hand holding a sample plus photos of the beach.
| Animats wrote:
| Well, here's a video which ends with a hand holding a
| sample.[1] It's a sand-making plant. Big rocks go in, and
| repeated crushing makes them into sand-sized rocks.
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVBiRPkQ0MI
| fzeindl wrote:
| Since sand is a non-renewable resource that is needed for
| construction, there's a lot of illegal activity going on.
|
| In India, illegal sand mining is the country's largest organized
| criminal activity.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_theft
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_sand_trade
| SoleilAbsolu wrote:
| This was part of the plot of an Elementary (modern-day Sherlock
| Holmes in NYC with Jonny Lee Miller & Lucy Liu) episode called
| Sand Trap.
|
| https://cbselementary.fandom.com/wiki/Sand_Trap#Plot
| zahlman wrote:
| > and roughly 700,000,000,000 cubic meters of beach on Earth.
|
| I wonder how they determine the average depth of beach sand?
| jl6 wrote:
| I imagine you'd go digging on a few sample beaches and then
| make an assumption about how representative those beaches are.
|
| Think where we'd be without sand!
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(page generated 2026-03-27 23:00 UTC)