Sand grains magnified 110-250 times reveal each grain is unique.
The tip of a spiral shell has broken off and become a grain of sand. After being repeatedly tumbled by action of the surf this spiral sand grain has become opalescent in character. It is surrounded by bits of coral, a pink shell fragment, a foram (a type of protozoa) and volcanic material. Photo copyright Dr. Gary Greenberg.
A handful of sand grains selected from a beach in Maui and arranged on a black background. Photo copyright Dr. Gary Greenberg.
Every grain of sand in the world is unique when viewed through a microscope.
Sand magnified 250 times. Photo copyright Dr. Gary Greenberg.
Sand Magnified. Photo by Yanping Wang.
Sand magnified 250 times. Photo via Tumblr.
Sand Magnified Around The World
The glacially deposited sands around Lake Winnibigoshish, Minnesota, contain abundant sediments from the igneous and metamorphic minerals of the Lake Superior basin. A sample includes pink garnets, green epidote, iron-rich red agates, black magnetite, and hematite. Photo copyright Dr. Gary Greenberg.
Magnified grains of star sand from Southern Japan, made up of the calcified shells of tiny organisms. Photo by Richard Mouser Williams.
Beautiful Framed Seashell
Neat idea for decorating a beach house, or any space you want a splash of the sea. The frame is 14″x17″, and yes, it’s a real seashell. Sold by Art.com for $119.99.
Magnified grains of Star Sand. Photo by Richard Mouser Williams.
Puffy Stars: Star-Shaped Sand Grains from Okinawa. These tiny foram, a type of protozoa, secrete beautiful star-shaped, calcium carbonate shells, or tests. Photo via sandgrains.com.
Coral sand magnified one-hundred times using transmission electron microscopy, brightfield mode. By Dr. David Maitland, Feltwell, UK, microscopyu.com
Many grains of sand are tiny crystals (shiny, flat-sided solids). Sand from Zushi Beach, Japan, contains what looks like a sapphire crystal. The crystal is larger than the surrounding grains and has survived eroding because of its hardness and quality. Photo copyright Dr. Gary Greenberg.
Fragments of baby sea urchin shells, magnified one-hundred times. Biogenic sand, formed from the remains of marine life, is the major ingredient of many tropical beaches. Via popgive.com. Originally found at “popgive.com/2009/01/tiny-work-of-art-in-each-grain-of-sand.html”
A magnified view of the tropical beach sand from the Caribbean island of St. John (U.S. Virgin Islands). The grains include porous fragments of brightly-colored corals, minute foraminiferan shells, fragments of sea shells and shiny, star-shaped sponge spicules. Originally found at “waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0704b.htm”
Sand Photographer Dr. Gary Greenberg
Every grain of sand is a jewel waiting to be discovered. That’s what Dr. Gary Greenberg found when he first turned his microscope on beach sand. Gemlike minerals, colorful coral fragments, and delicate microscopic shells reveal that sand comprises much more than tiny beige rocks.
Author and photographer Dr. Gary Greenberg is a visual artist who creatively combines art with science. He has a Ph.D. in biomedical research from University College London and holds 17 patents for high-definition 3-D light microscopes. Dr. Greenberg lives in Haiku, Hawaii.
Dr. Greenberg has published two books:
- A Grain of Sand: Nature’s Secret Wonder
- The Secrets of Sand: A Journey into the Amazing Microscopic World of Sand
The Universe Of Sand
Carl Sagan famously remarked “the total number of stars in the universe is greater than all the grains of sand on all the beaches on the planet Earth.” University of Hawai’i researches estimate that the total number of ‘all’ grains of sand on the whole planet could be approximately 75 billion billion. Scientists still believe there are more stars in the Universe.
Speaking of planets: If a grain of sand represented an entire galaxy; so each grain of sand, or galaxy, contains 100’s of billions of stars, you would need to fill six rooms full of sand to contain all the galaxies in the known universe. If you drilled a tiny hole in one of the grains of sand, ‘our Milky Way universe,’ that would be the area that we have been capable of seaching for planets so far. About 2000 planets have been discovered so far.
Will wonders of the world never cease
This is AMAZING!
God’s miracles are everywhere! Beautiful and awe inspiring photography! Thank you.
I am a lover of sand. I love putting my feet in it and feeling its warmth. I wish I lived where there was sand so I could do this everyday, but unfortunately I can only do this on a vacation. This is very impressive and I love my God for putting sand on the earth.
Thank you for this wonderful video.
Thank you for this enlightening view of sand. I often tell others we are just like pieces of sand. Alone, very minute; together great beaches. Now, we are not just collective, we are unique in our collectiveness. Special, beautiful and brilliant. A small, valuable part of a whole…once again. It’s everywhere.
extraordinary
excelent documentary, educational
has open my mind a little wider
THANK YOU!
Do all sand on earth is made from these thing?
What beauty that few really think about and appreciate.
Wonderful little bits of everything under our feet!
Loved seeing the magnificent sand grains!
And could someone correct the ‘whole’ error in the last bit of info at the end? In the third line. It should be ‘hole’. Thank you.
Beautiful grains of sand make awesome ocean shells. I love to walk the beach and collect shells.
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for enlightening us.
Grand father in early 1900’s prospected in the Longwood ranges and he recorded that sand in that area had traces of platinum and rubies probably similar size to what is shown. Now i read where a Mining coy is looking to prospect
Fabulous photgraphy
Beautiful also to look at grains of wet sand taken from the shore zone to see how much tiny amazing life exists amongst the grains of sand
The wonders of GOD. How little we appreciate HIS creation. Thanks for sharing this.
On my recent visit to be with my daughter in Florida we were discussing different types of sand. As we toured the different Keys she explained that each island had it’s own unique sand. From very fine and bright white to a more dense off white. One beach is known for the beauty of its sand being of crystals. We became curious contemplating answers. Then she found your web site! We are now more amazed with sand and the magnificent qualities. Thank you for sharing. This is my new favorite web site!!!H
I’m sorry that the WONDERFUL science teacher our children had isn’t here to see this as she had a collection of sand and we collected sand for her wherever we went. We were amazed at the differences in color and texture.
Consider me Speechless…GOD never ceases to Amaze me with the Wonderful World of Diversity that he Created for us to enjoy. I will neveer see the beach quite the same ever again. Thank you for sharing 🙂
This is miraculous!!! I am almost speechless!
I live in Gloucester, Massachusetts and remember as a boy, i had a teacher who had a microscope and used to bring samples in to my elementary school to examine and it opened this wole new world to all of us students who were utterly fascinated by the world beneath our feet, so beautifula nd so very unexpected. The odd thing s: this was done when I was at a school that no longer exists and at which I matriculated in the mid fifties of the last century! I am now 68 ansd disabled from Agent Orange exposre in Vietnam 45 years ago but, the article and the acxcompanying Photographs certainly stirred long ago memoriwes of a time when life was simpler and we lived in a country we could be proud of instead og the degenerate morass it has become in particular, in the last fivce years after a long and slow decline from those days. Nostalgia is a wonderful reality when compared to reality tody. Thank you for the remembrance!
This is so cool! Amazing! Who would ever think that the sand looks like this? This is truly an eye opener.
Thanks for sharing this new knowledge. I live on the island of Tobago, in the southern Caribbean surrounded by billions of grains of sand. I shall look upon them with new awe and enjoyment.
This is amazing. So beautiful!
God is an awesome God.
These are the things that remind us how beautiful the world is. It is not an accident, but something we need to all discover. I believe god pit it here so that so,some could find the beauty for all of us, and then we could remember all the beauty there is to find, and to focus on that beauty and much less on that which is hard to understand. A wonderful way to start the day.
Oh Almighty God what have Thou done !!?
How wonderful ! How fascinating indeed is everything you make. I cannot say anything else. I am speechless. I am grateful.
Neat!
I grew up and lived many years on the Southern shore of Lake Michigan. There the sand is all the same size,and when the weather is very hot and dry the sand sings when you walk on it. This sand is likie the sand of the Sahara desert they say. Called the ‘Singing Sand’
Shows the awesome power of our creator.
Blake wrote (Not Exact Quote):
The world in a grain of sand-An eternity in a minute’
Nature=1
God+Nature=1
God=0
Amazing what a great god we have.
If this is what we have here on earth that is so incredible – can you imagine what we have waiting for us when we go home to our Father in heaven.
They are so beautiful. How may I
buy them?
Each and every one of my paintings and sculptures are different. Not one a like.It is possible to take another look at small grains of sand and relate to my art.Thank you, Fraser Leonard.com
These are amazingly beautiful and shows just how great our God really is to introduce such beautiful detail on something so small. By the way, it has been documented that now any grain tested was more than 8,000 years old with the vast majority being only 100’s of years old.
Isn’t it interesting that most of the grains of sand illustrated here are parts of things that were once alive?
God does work in wonderful ways.
I have a sea URCHEN with a star fish imbedded on it and its petrified. I was told it was a million years old by a collector. I love looking at sea shells and have a collection myself. The odd thing about the URCHEN is it looks like a human heart.
The more we discover about our world, the
more incredable it seems and we have just
begun to really know about it’s wonders.
Keep these types of things coming….we can learn so much from the internet without leaving our homes
This was just so awesome. I never thought of sand as anything else except sand. It’s just wonderful what you discovered. Keep up the good work and hope there is more to come.
This is one of the most amazing emails I have ever received, and I’m anxious to share it with many more. I never would have thought to magnify grains of sand so many times. They are so beautiful and they make me think that there is something else that my God planned out and created. I love this.
So Beautiful. Grew up on the beach but have forgotten. Time to go back and really ‘look’ again.
Our God is so awesome! These pictures are so amazing. I have a collection of sand from different beaches and no two are the exact same color. How much more beautiful heaven must be!
Comment!
This is absolutely beautiful and amazing. What mighty works our creator has made!
How can anyone not believe in a God, a Maestro, who set and established all of this for our enjoyment?
A nice reminder about all the things we don’t know.
Beautiful! I ran out and bought two copies of the book.
Of course.
These magnifications and or macros of the sand are absolutely gorgeous…
Keep up the great works!
Cherie
magnificent = ‘His wonders to behold’