SAND - LAB

Sand is very important in the manufacturing and the oil business. Pure quartz sand is used in glassmaking (because quartz is chemically made of the same components as glass), computer industry (silicon from quartz), sandblasting and sandpaper industries (because of the hardness of quartz). Other types of sands are also used to make pottery, to line the hearth of acid steel furnaces, for molding metal casts, and abrasives (garnet predominately). Sand is very important to the cement business. Without sand you would have no concrete. There would be no large buildings, no highways, no slab housing, and no large pipelines (especially sewage).

Deposits of sand under the surface of the Earth are also important because between the grains of sands there is pore space that can be filled up with water or oil. Sand acts like holding tanks for these liquids, just waiting for humans to tap them.

Pismo Beach, California