Dear ILL Answerman,
Does sand freeze?
Joseph in Mukilteo, WA
Joseph,
An excellent question! As you no doubt are aware, sand is composed of silicon dioxide, often in the form of quartz. Quartz, being nothing more than a glorified rock, is already a solid under common conditions, so does not freeze. However, if you should heat up a hunk of quartz to about 3000 degrees (please note that the dials on most kitchen ovens do not go up this high), it will melt and then "freeze" once it begins to cool off. Of course it would be difficult to characterize a 3000 degree hunk of quartz as "sand"; a more accurate term might be "magma".
The ILL Answerman
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You are really smart...my dad said throw ice on sand and it freezes...I can't wait to tell him that the ILL dude is smarter than him!
Joseph, if there's one thing that the Answerman knows, it's that your dad is always right. Parents trump science every time.
Post a Comment