from the crucial-—-but-under-appreciated-— dept.
A sand shortage? The world is running out of a crucial:
An insatiable global appetite for sand, one of the world’s most important but least appreciated commodities, is unlikely to let up anytime soon. The problem, however, is that this resource is slipping away.
Our entire society is built on sand. It is the world’s most consumed raw material after water and an essential ingredient to our everyday lives.
Sand is the primary substance used in the construction of roads, bridges, high-speed trains and even land regeneration projects. Sand, gravel and rock crushed together are melted down to make the glass used in every window, computer screen and smart phone. Even the production of silicon chips uses sand.
Yet, the world is facing a shortage — and climate scientists say it constitutes one of the greatest sustainability challenges of the 21st century.
(Score: 5, Funny) by kazzie on Wednesday August 04 2021, @07:45AM (4 children)
Someone tried to tell me that computer chips were made of sand.
I told them it was just a silly con.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:07PM (3 children)
Isn't is silly cone?
Silly cone is used for chip augmentation procedures on some motherboards so that chips are both firmer and larger for best benchmark performance.
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(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @03:14PM (1 child)
Are you having a stroke?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 05 2021, @04:44PM
It's not a stroke. It is programming in Java. They both have similar symptoms.
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(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday August 05 2021, @12:10AM
Bouncier too!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by deimtee on Wednesday August 04 2021, @08:01AM (4 children)
Throwing computer chips in there is ridiculous. There is a huge difference in not having enough cheap sand to use billions of tonnes in construction, and not having the few hundred tonnes used to make a high value product like chips. Sand could cost 100 times as much and it would barely affect the price of computer chips.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Wednesday August 04 2021, @08:56AM (3 children)
Besides, it is my understanding that you could use desert sand for computer chips. There is no shortages of desert sand whatsoever.
(Score: 1) by surjeon on Wednesday August 04 2021, @10:09AM (2 children)
I thought it had to be quite pure silica sand, and that actually there's relatively few industrial supplies of it.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @10:28AM
AFAIK there's no big diff or disadvantage from using desert sand vs other common sand (beach, river etc) for silicon wafers. All that matters is the silicon content. Of course if you want very high percentage you'd use quartz or quartz sand.
But for construction the problem with desert sand is it's typically too smooth and fine. If you make concrete using conventional recipes but with desert sand the concrete would be weaker.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @10:41AM
There is no sand in the world that is pure enough. I don't know what they do these days, but 30 years ago it was formed into a cylinder and then a traveling "melt zone" was repeatedly moved along it. The impurities tend to stay in the melt as it recrystallizes, slowly moving them to one end. That end is then chopped off and the very pure rest of the cylinder sliced into wafers.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Opportunist on Wednesday August 04 2021, @10:28AM (3 children)
How do you know the Sahara is going communist?
First 7 years you don't notice much, then they're forced to ration the sand.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @09:58PM (2 children)
Desert sand is still plentiful, but the wind has smoothed its grains out over time such that it's not very good for making concrete. I wonder if there's a practical way to roughen up grain surfaces.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday August 04 2021, @10:38PM
Sandpaper. Very tiny pieces of sandpaper. :-P
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 05 2021, @05:56AM
You could just take their lunch money.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday August 04 2021, @11:03AM (12 children)
It seems like sand production is an easy task. Just crush rock. Silicon and Oxygen are the two most abundant elements in the earth's crust! This is a non-problem.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by zocalo on Wednesday August 04 2021, @11:34AM (10 children)
Scaremongering aside, I expect this will be like any of the other "Peak Resouce" problems; the price of the natural resource will increase with dwindling supply and complexity of acquisition, and that increased cost will drive research into more cost effective ways of creating sand of the required attributes and the development of approaches that allow the use of more readily available alternatives in place of those currently used, e.g. concrete that can use at least some of the regular desert sand without the current consistency and stability issues. Alternatively, there have been a number of construction projects that have eschewed concrete altogether as it involves large amounts of CO2 production, often in favour of things like sustainable wood sources, so it seems quite likely that we'll also see a lot more of these.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday August 04 2021, @12:06PM (9 children)
> increased cost will drive research into more cost effective ways of creating sand
Right - concrete is already crushed limestone and clay. Add some crushed granite, job done.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday August 04 2021, @01:45PM (7 children)
Poe's law, but I'm going to treat that as a serious comment, so...
Unfortunately it's a lot harder to crush granite than limestone. (And you are leaving out a vast number of processing steps and more precise mineral requirements.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1, Troll) by PiMuNu on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:08PM (5 children)
> Unfortunately it's a lot harder to crush granite than limestone.
Really?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:39PM (1 child)
Yes, really.
Mohs scale of mineral hardness [soylentnews.org]
basics: Diamond is 10, Talc is 1.You can scratch Talc with your fingernail.
Limestone, aka Calcium Carbonate, is at 3
Granite, which is made of mostly of quartz fused with other minerals is is 6-7, around mild steel.
quartz, which is a prime component of most sand, is at 7
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 1, Redundant) by PiMuNu on Thursday August 05 2021, @11:29AM
Right, but there is still not much difference in *difficulty* - you use a crusher, but now you need a bit more oomph in the hydraulics and replace the crushing head a few more times than before. Maybe - at a push - you need to spend a bit of $ on doing some R&D on improved crushing system.
It is still not in the class of *difficult* problems. Not something to lose sleep over whereas TFA implies it is.
(Score: 3, Informative) by RS3 on Wednesday August 04 2021, @03:40PM (2 children)
Very much so. Over the years I've done some construction work, which often involves using a "hammer-drill", or "rotary hammer". It's a motorized drill that also imparts percussive impacts into the drill bit as it turns. The bit is very tough with a carbide-steel tip. I've mostly used them to make holes in concrete for installing various screws and anchors that are used to secure things, like electrical panels, etc.
Occasionally I've had to drill into granite stones, and it's unbelievably difficult compared to any other stone / brick / masonry materials. It can take 10-20 times as long to make a small hole in granite.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @11:58PM (1 child)
I really hate to say it, but you are giving bad advice. Never use a hammer drill on granite, quartz or similar stone like that. The hammering can easily turn your expensive counter top into a very expensive modern art piece. Instead, you want to use a diamond bit submerged in water with as little down pressure as required to keep it in the hole.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Thursday August 05 2021, @12:19AM
Thank you, but as much as I re-read my previous post, 1) I never wrote "counter top", and 2) I did not give advice. Please read it over and over until you grasp that I was telling what I've done. That's not the same as saying what others should do, right?
In fact, I've done granite counter top work and yes, we use a diamond-impregnated cylindrical bit, usually in a nice drill stand to keep the drill nice and perpendicular, no wobbling, lots of water wash, don't push it, etc.
For smaller holes in glass, granite, ceramic, etc., we used to use teardrop-shaped bits, but the diamond cylindrical bits have become the standard (AFAIK).
For really big holes in concrete, we use a similar rig: water hose hookup so it's constantly flushing, large cylindrical "coring" bit with diamond dust impregnation, drill motor mounted on its own stand with a nice vacuum base, self-feeding, electronic feed control that senses force and self-regulates. I've mostly used Hilti for that fun fun work. Example (not Amazon shill by any stretch, just came up quickly in search) https://www.amazon.com/Hilti-3557312Diamond-Core-DD250-vacuum/dp/B079XWBWJW/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=B079XWBWJW&psc=1 [amazon.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @04:15PM
The local quarry manufactures all their sand by crushing granite. It is $15/yd. in small quantities.
The crushed rock sand makes a *slightly* weaker concrete than river sand, though. But, it works much better than river sand for setting pavers.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:11PM
That sounds like dehydrated sand.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Thursday August 05 2021, @06:57AM
Why crush the rock? What's wrong with using stone directly for building, as has been done for millennia? You need much less sand if you only fill the gaps between the stones, than if you build the complete wall out of it.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by acid andy on Wednesday August 04 2021, @12:04PM (17 children)
It's funny and also tragic that a very common analogy for visualizing very large numbers and/or very abundant objects is to compare them to the number of grains of sand on the Earth, yet now they say they're running out.
My first two thoughts would be firstly the sand hasn't gone, it's still around in all the glass and concrete and other substances we've manufactured, so just get better at recycling. My second thought is the one I often raise in relation to these topics that we're just making too many humans and the planet simply can't support the quality of life they're all aspiring to have. These kinds of issues seem to be showing up more and more frequently in recent years. Ultimately recycling won't solve a resource shortage when the number of consumers grows infinitely.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:04PM (13 children)
This is Malthusian scaremonger bullshit. Earth's human population is expected to max out at around 12 to 14 billion as the developing world catches up. The population increase is a response to industrialized farming making food more plentiful, which is why all of the growth is in countries that have recently industrialized their farmland. Countries that have completed that transition have zero or negative growth.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by acid andy on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:11PM (12 children)
12 to 14 billion? Do you seriously think the Earth's resources and ecosystems can comfortably support that many living the lifestyles of the current "developed" world? Ecosystems are already collapsing with the current levels of consumption. A massive rethink is needed.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 5, Informative) by DannyB on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:15PM (7 children)
One solution that some would endorse is for us to put our fingers in our ears, bury our heads in the sand, while we still have some, and sing LA, LA LA, LA LA.
Place bets on whether we'll run out of sand or water first.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:25PM (4 children)
Well, since you have offered no actionable idea for reducing the population growth, you pretty much are the one running around yelling like a crazy person.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:46PM (3 children)
Talking about the issues can help. It needs to be done sensitively. You'll get a few "crazy person"s that claim they'll have extra kids just to spite us, but other than that cultures can shift through awareness.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday August 04 2021, @03:01PM (2 children)
Maybe the AC would propose a policy that limits every person to having only one child (with whoever they want).
Problem: people will scream, but my freedom!
And they wouldn't be wrong. But its just like vaccines and masks. At what point will selfish people consider the common good might be more important.
I already think that some people today wouldn't want to bring a child into the increasingly dystopian world we live in.
It is just one of many problems, but for example, the US might no longer be a democracy if we are unable to have peaceful elections and everyone accept the results that are certified from the lowest to highest levels. I cannot imagine how the world would change if the US fails. But I don't mean to down play climate change, the drought, the fires, the floods, rising sea levels, and other problems.
It isn't the end of the world. It really isn't. It could merely be the end of humanity and some other species. And not overnight. Not even this decade. So we can safely ignore it.
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(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @08:14PM (1 child)
Would you be referring to the inability of the Democrats to accept Trump's victory in the 2016 election?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 05 2021, @04:06PM
Trump won the Electoral College votes in 2016. And became president elect. What are you talking about?
He didn't win the popular vote, but that isn't what officially matters.
Trump won neither the popular nor the electoral college votes in 2020 and thus became the president-reject.
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(Score: 3, Funny) by Rich on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:28PM
If everyone needs sand to bury their head in, that adds to the sand scarcity. Maybe cull some ostriches, they started that idea in the first place?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 05 2021, @09:06PM
p.s. I don't have any kids either.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday August 04 2021, @05:46PM (3 children)
All due to mismanagement and corruption. The planet can easily support 12 to 14 billion. We have barely scratched the surface.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday August 04 2021, @05:57PM (2 children)
What you say might be true in theory but even if it is, we still need to figure out how to put an end to that mismanagement and corruption and I think that would need to happen globally to be effective. I have my doubts that such a thing can happen for any sustained length of time because humans have an inherent tendency towards corruption, due to selfish motives.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Wednesday August 04 2021, @06:18PM (1 child)
Me too.. but until it does, we're stuck. Everything depends on it.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @07:58PM
Bb..but Mars? Elon Musk....
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday August 04 2021, @02:12PM (1 child)
> we're just making too many humans and the planet simply can't support the quality of life they're all aspiring to have.
If they had the quality of life they're aspiring to have then they wouldn't be aspiring to it, would they!
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday August 04 2021, @06:52PM
No, but they would have been aspiring to have it until they did obtain it. I implied but did not state that the planet can't support that quality of life for all individuals. Ergo, bad things will happen when too many individuals try to fulfill their aspirations unless major changes are made to human civilization first. But I'm quite sure you already knew what I meant. :)
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday August 05 2021, @04:29AM
This particular scare first went around a year or two ago. And it wasn't sand generally; it was a shortage of a specific kind of sand that's preferable for making glass because of its consistent quality. IIRC it was a kind that renews slowly, like beach sand, and demand was starting to get ahead of supply. (I can't be arsed to find the article again, but I think it was posted here on SN.)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @12:10PM
Must be all those dumb assholes filling plastic bags with sand at the beach, that's the only thing that creates shortages.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @12:16PM
When the world runs out of sand, what will they have to eat?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @01:18PM (1 child)
Time has come for sand scalpers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @10:00PM
Dune
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 04 2021, @03:23PM (1 child)
Why listen to this guy? Why not listen to say, construction engineers or people who actually mine sand? Too much of climate change revolves around sloppy argument from authority.
When we look at the actual claims, the speaker is conflating three separate important uses of sand: for concrete, for glass making, and for high purity silicon. The first application is the only one that depends on sand with relatively high surface area and hence, in any sense, running low.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 05 2021, @05:59AM
Furthermore, we should hold politicians accountable for failed promises on recycling glass. Repeal all the laws and start a new with new politicians.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Thursday August 05 2021, @05:51AM
Solve 2 problems at once: provide sand for construction purposes, lower the ocean level.