OT, but manufacturing - running out of sand

Milland · Sep 13, 2018

Hi all,
This video presents an interesting view of the use of sand in manufacturing (of concrete), and why the quality and age of the sand matters. As concrete is central to city construction and is the most used (man made) material around the world, it's critical to modern society.

A microscopic look at why the world is running out of sand - YouTube

I'd be interested how crushed glass would work as a natural sand substitute. Considering that glass is difficult to conventionally recycle, perhaps it can be the "core" of a new construction blend. My town had to change glass from a recycled material to trash, as it had no demand from glass makers any more, so concrete use could be a win-win.

Rstewart · Sep 13, 2018

I always thought it was pretty ironic that all the buildings going up in desert regions can't use the sand that's all around them. Like in Dubi, they had to import all their construction sand from Australia.

Ray Behner · Sep 13, 2018

Isn't glass made from sand?

boslab · Sep 13, 2018

Problem we have is offshore dredging for sand, the beaches have all shrunk or disappeared,
mark

jscpm · Sep 13, 2018

People who complain about how they are "running out of sand" are pretty much the same people who complain that we are "running out of machinists."

Milland · Sep 13, 2018

Ray Behner said:
Isn't glass made from sand?

Silica sand [correcting myself here, quartz is a silica], don't know how it would differ from the prized quartz-based river sand that's less plentiful now. And apparently, the sharper edges of a crushed glass (or stone) doesn't make as robust a concrete. Not sure why, you'd think that the extra surface area of a rougher sand would give more bonding surface. Must be some other factors that make rounded edges better.

Larry Dickman · Sep 13, 2018

saying the world is running out of sand is like saying the world is running out of inane, moronic youtube videos.

Milland · Sep 13, 2018

Larry Dickman said:
saying the world is running out of sand is like saying the world is running out of inane, moronic youtube videos.

Golly, Larry - too bad you didn't watch and/or understand the video I linked, as it's not either of your adjectives. Maybe you need a bit more sleep, sport...

Aejgx6 · Sep 13, 2018

I watched the video and it’s mainly a issue in population dense areas. The world is not running out of good sand. Reporters have to have something to report and find issues where none need to be. I’m guessing sharp sand can be different to get low slump and pack.

gregormarwick · Sep 13, 2018

Where I'm from (Orkney Isles) there are artificial barriers in Scapa Flow placed there in the second world war to keep out the subs. They are made of concrete cubes around 2m³. They were later repurposed as land bridges to connect roads across the south isles.

They are exposed to some fierce seas and there are some losses.

About 15 years ago when I still lived there my dad and I made molds and cast in lifting eyes for the local council quarry department who had accumulated a mountain of crushed glass bottles. They made a large quantity (I forget the figures) of new barrier blocks out of glass concrete, with great success.

The Shetland Isles did something similar around the same time. There were also experiments done with road surfaces made with crushed glass, not sure of the outcome of that.

Where I live now we get hard frosts in the winter. A few years ago all the pedestrian pavements in town were covered in a highly grippy black substance that resembled tarmac when they laid it. I believe it is crushed glass in epoxy of some kind. It has faired very well in the time it has been down.

Larry Dickman · Sep 13, 2018

Every time I hit the links, I have NO trouble finding sand.

DMF_TomB · Sep 13, 2018

went to a training class at a factory built in the side of a hill. it was a old limestone quarry. the surface limestone was not much, but underground there was like 10,000,000x more.
.
its not like diamond mining where they go so deep it get hot like over 100F cause they are near the molten rock magma or volcano. a lot of mines they dont actually dig straight down the dig into side of a mountain and big mountain it can take centuries to dig it all. Rocky mountains appear small on a tv screen. in real life you can see the mountains 50 miles away and walk for 2 to 4 days before you actually get to the mountains.
.
salt mines, sand, stone. there is a lot underground. sort of like prediction we would run out of oil by the 1990's yet today we bring up more oil than ever before
.
you also should see a concrete recycling plant. big pieces of concrete broke up to small pieces to make concrete block. done every day

FredC · Sep 13, 2018

Not sure if frac sand is the same as used in concrete, it is screened for size and shape. Good frac sand may come from half way across the country. Many semi loads go into a single well.

DMF_TomB · Sep 13, 2018

now a days people dont shovel sand into wheel barrel. its big equipment scooping up 2 to 10 yards at a time going in hugh truck where it goes to a hugh ship.
.
sea container shipping or rather modern container shipping drives cost down where you can have a local mine and it is still cheaper to buy sand or coal from the other side of the world.
.
sure places where they dont want to invest in large equipment and large shipping container methods will not be able to compete

DDoug · Sep 13, 2018

gregormarwick said:
outcome of that.

Where I live now we get hard frosts in the winter. A few years ago all the pedestrian pavements in town were covered in a highly grippy black substance that resembled tarmac when they laid it. I believe it is crushed glass in epoxy of some kind. It has faired very well in the time it has been down.

With all the snow we get....I suggest we mix spent radioactive waste into the
pavement....
It would stay at a comfortable 80F all the time, thereby eliminating all
plowing and salting, and light up with a nice green glow all night
for excellent visibility.

A "win-win" for shure !

DMF_TomB · Sep 13, 2018

digger doug said:
With all the snow we get....I suggest we mix spent radioactive waste into the
pavement....
It would stay at a comfortable 80F all the time, thereby eliminating all
plowing and salting, and light up with a nice green glow all night
for excellent visibility.

A "win-win" for shure !

.
i once saw precision spirit levels with glowing pellet in them so you could see read level anywhere. wasnt highly radioactive. but at a photographic supply company where radioactive stuff will fog film and paper it wasnt allowed to have radioactive permanent light sources.
.
after Chernobyl nuclear accident my company bought cheap birch plywood which it found to be slightly radioactive from trees i assume affected by the nuclear fallout. my guess is that cheap birch plywood was sold all over the world and could be in a persons house or even used in the furniture that his computer, he is using is sitting on. like who searches their house for radioactive stuff ??

HuFlungDung · Sep 13, 2018

gregormarwick said:
Where I'm from (Orkney Isles) there are artificial barriers in Scapa Flow placed there in the second world war to keep out the subs. They are made of concrete cubes around 2m³. They were later repurposed as land bridges to connect roads across the south isles.

They are exposed to some fierce seas and there are some losses.

About 15 years ago when I still lived there my dad and I made molds and cast in lifting eyes for the local council quarry department who had accumulated a mountain of crushed glass bottles. They made a large quantity (I forget the figures) of new barrier blocks out of glass concrete, with great success.

The Shetland Isles did something similar around the same time. There were also experiments done with road surfaces made with crushed glass, not sure of the outcome of that.

Where I live now we get hard frosts in the winter. A few years ago all the pedestrian pavements in town were covered in a highly grippy black substance that resembled tarmac when they laid it. I believe it is crushed glass in epoxy of some kind. It has faired very well in the time it has been down.

A friend related a story that he had driven on a test strip of an asphalt made with glass. I understand when the angle of the sun was wrong, it was blinding to drive on while looking where you were driving.

Ron Hofer · Sep 13, 2018

DMF_TomB said:
.
i once saw precision spirit levels with glowing pellet in them so you could see read level anywhere. wasnt highly radioactive. but at a photographic supply company where radioactive stuff will fog film and paper it wasnt allowed to have radioactive permanent light sources.
.
after Chernobyl nuclear accident my company bought cheap birch plywood which it found to be slightly radioactive from trees i assume affected by the nuclear fallout. my guess is that cheap birch plywood was sold all over the world and could be in a persons house or even used in the furniture that his computer, he is using is sitting on. like who searches their house for radioactive stuff ??

Re: Chernobyl. I had a tour guide in Kiev (about 100 clicks from Chernobyl as the crow flies) say that, the summer after the disaster, the roses in Kiev tended to be about the size of grapefruits.

steve45 · Sep 13, 2018

DMF_TomB said:
.
i once saw precision spirit levels with glowing pellet in them so you could see read level anywhere. wasnt highly radioactive. but at a photographic supply company where radioactive stuff will fog film and paper it wasnt allowed to have radioactive permanent light sources.
.
after Chernobyl nuclear accident my company bought cheap birch plywood which it found to be slightly radioactive from trees i assume affected by the nuclear fallout. my guess is that cheap birch plywood was sold all over the world and could be in a persons house or even used in the furniture that his computer, he is using is sitting on. like who searches their house for radioactive stuff ??

Radiation is everywhere. Nothing to worry about. My first airplane had radium dials on some of the gauges so they could be read at night without lights. It really worked pretty well, as it didn't affect your night vision. Old watches often had radium dials.

Not unusual to find a very low level of radioactivity in building materials, including wood and especially brick. I'm curious how your company found it.

Oh, yea, we used a LOT of sand in fraccing oil wells. Now they're started mining it locally, which has really upset some people here. There were some sand dunes that were a very popular place to go ride sand rails, dune buggies, motorcycles, etc. A private company bought the sand dunes last year for the purpose of mining frac sand and they closed it to the public.

OT, but manufacturing - running out of sand

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Diamond

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Titanium

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