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.
you see people create sand images on the beaches all the times imagine seeing them under the microscope like Dr. Greenbergs awesome indeed. thanks for all your works they sure do give the credit to the creator in all his magnificents. keep up the works and keep sharing it with us.
Dr. Greenburg:
We have a photoblog and a group of photographers called Lens luggers. One of our group forwarded this to me. We would like permission to include your inspirationgreen with credit and links to you site. Woudl tha be possible. thanks you.
Bob Grytten – lensluggers.com
Wow; what amazing photos!! So gorgeous; I could look at them all day. 🙂
It is so interesting to me that the sand on Mars does not have the veriety that Earth sand has. Why? Life.
Wow what a wonderful work of arts the Wonders of Sands, the miracle of nature.
This exposure to sand in magnification, gives to me the sense that all things are valuable and useful…Look what we do with sand: We melt it and make glass for windows. Who’d a thunk it? God is the great organizer of all things and did a magnificent job creating conditions upon which we live…Why? Because He loves us.
I will never look at a grain of sand in the same way.
I’m going to crack into my egg Timer. This is spectaclar who would have thunk it!
We cannot in our finite minds even begin to comprehend the wondrous creative power of our God!
Great pictures from a different view point, 100 to 250 percent magnification!! Bob :o}
Yah, it LOOKS cool through a microscope, so you should think about that when the sand in your shorts makes that ride home less comfortable… (heheheheh)
good pics. I wouldn’t recommend taking a $2,000.00 microscope to the beach in any case. Shake out the shorts when you get home.
These particles resemble the glass- work of Dale Chihuly . . . or is it the other wat around?
We are on Siesta key beach, Sarasota Fl. supposed to be made of quartz???Very fine ,very white and very soft..Unique ???
Abraham to multiple until his people, not Jews at the time, but later, were to be as the sand in number. The Jews need to get busy!!!!
I have been collecting sand for years from all over the world. Thank you so much for such wonderful, unbelievably beautiful pictures. Going to purchase the book right now.
Wonderful!
‘if you drilled a tiny ‘whole’??????
Ooops!
BREATHTAKING! THANK YOU! I desire to become a fan of Inspiration Green.
Beautiful pictures!
Oh the wounders of this small aspect of our living planet. That perspective can only be seen with the magnification of the microscope.
Thank you…
Glen
How wonderful to see that such tiny speck of sand is so magnificent!
Thank you for sharing the beauty.
Who but God can be credited with such a creation ?
I’ve spent years on sandy beaches. I learn something greater about our Heavenly Father every day. God Bless you all.
This is such a visual of how Christ is in us and around us as the Father is in Him and we are all one, with the Holy Spirit as our intersessor. There is no loss of connection in this perfect plan. We must always trust in that.
So very beautiful and the only way to have seen this. Thank you.
Beautiful to be witnessing the constant evolution of the universe. How rock is eroded by wind and water to break it down. The power of nature!
I know you will say this is scientific,but it is mystical. It is a shame that both the scientists and the mystics cannot agree that we seek the same and fine the similarities and can’t agree that they are one in the same. God, give us the ability to see you in all things, even the grain of sand. I am amazed at this find. Thank you , Dr. Green, for your efforts.
Thank you for revealing the beauty of our own wonderous world to us! We are truly blessed to be able to see it in all its splendor!
Absolute Magnificence what a wonderful World we
Inhabit! A truly Spiritual Experience!
Euclid’s notion is proven in a grain of sand, God is, and if it were not so, I am would not have shown you.
It is amazing that we can see the wonderful works of God even in a grain of sand. Thank you for showing this wonder to us.
Beauty we walk on!
LIKE SNOWFLAKES……LITTLE GEMS THAT MADE MY SENSE OF SIGHT SOOOO HAPPY!!!
Anyone viewing these miracles of a loving God and still claims it to come from evolution and denies the handy work of God is either an idiot or a liar.
This is so beautiful! Who knew the wonders beneath our feet. I’m passing this on.
Awesome Beauty in Nature…
This is truly God’s Work of Art. Only He can give us the Beauty that is all around us to enjoy.
GIVE HIM THE CREDIT!!
Lovely and Amazing. I have these tiny shells that the sand produced. There are always grains of sand in the shells. I wonder if these grains of sand would magnify to the look of the shell they are in or different shells?
Thanks for the visual
Amazing – and shows how important it is for us to worship the creation rather then fight over a creator.
Think of that grain of copper that moves from the smelter to your lung.
Pincas
This is awesome!
amazing. to think of the sand is to think of jewels.
God gave us the most beautiful planet
Just like snowflakes, fingerprints, eyes, everything is fearfully and wonderfully made!
How can anyone say that there is no God??????
Beautiful photos. It is part of the reason I studied science. To see all this stuff so intricate and so diverse and to see how it is built by natural processes that follow natural laws fills me with awe. It is cool to be able to understand all this just by magnifying it a bit and knowing some basic biology/chemistry/physics. It really puts the god-of-the-gaps notion a few notches down, eh? One more example of how little reason there is to need a creator (who would have to have been created itself) by seeing nature at work.
Can y’all cut it out with the worship…it’s pathetic. Go to your church to love your master. This is biology.
This is AMASSING…………EVERY GRAIN OF SAND HAS ‘GOD’S ‘ TOUCH…..Everything has meaning
Why are all these insane people on about ‘Creation and God’?
These sand grains are beautiful, I think i’m going to magnify some of my own to see what they look like. I had no idea sand looked like that up close.
Awesome God made planet/universe.
Grains of Sand Magnified
As I look at the wonder of these grains of sand, I think of how each person is a unique personality, with endless possibilities.
To reduce our knowledge to only include what can be understood by our 5 senses is a little pathetic…?
We have biology, but are not limited to it….?
Call it Light, God or Life; but delight in the fact that WE are part of it all. Yea!
Thanks for sharing those amazing photos. What a feast for the eyes and what an amazing world we live in.
Awesome! Further evidence of our great Creator.