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Why Wet Sand Sticks

Series: A Moment of Science
From: WFIU
Length: 00:02:02

2-minute science module. Read the full description.
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Why Wet Sand Sticks
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WFIU

Amosfacebookbanner_small Your five-year-old knows it: When it comes to building sand castles at the beach, wet sand is much better than dry. If you fill your bucket with dry sand and turn it over, you're likely to end up with a tumbled ruin, not a proud tower or turret. Any junior civil engineer will tell you to use damp sand from the water's edge to construct proper parapets.

A Sticky Problem

Fortunately for beach-goers everywhere, a group of physicists at Notre Dame tackled this sticky problem. They discovered that wet sand sticks together for exactly the same reason water beads up on wax paper: a phenomenon called surface tension.

Learn more on this A Moment of Science...


Why Wet Sand Sticks | 00:02:02

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Piece Description

Your five-year-old knows it: When it comes to building sand castles at the beach, wet sand is much better than dry. If you fill your bucket with dry sand and turn it over, you're likely to end up with a tumbled ruin, not a proud tower or turret. Any junior civil engineer will tell you to use damp sand from the water's edge to construct proper parapets.

A Sticky Problem

Fortunately for beach-goers everywhere, a group of physicists at Notre Dame tackled this sticky problem. They discovered that wet sand sticks together for exactly the same reason water beads up on wax paper: a phenomenon called surface tension.

Learn more on this A Moment of Science...


Related Website

http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/wet-sand-stick-together/

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