Sand is the most consumed resource on earth after freshwater.
Can you use beach sand to make glass?
The properties sought after for the perfect beach getaway — fine, smooth sand that stays cool under your feet—are actually the same properties that make for the best glass. To achieve the highest quality glass in both transparency and color, it is necessary to use silica sand, comprised mostly of quartz.
Besides glass and concrete, sand is also a critical ingredient in computer chips, meaning it is one of the key raw materials of the modern world.
As the urbanisation of our modern world expands, so does the need for this unassuming resource.
You can’t use any old sand to make concrete, the desert grains are too smooth to be useful for concrete. Dubai, on the edge of its vast desert, had to import sand from Australia for its mega construction projects.
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Seems to be a common issue on the Indian ocean coastline.
