At the Beach

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.





Magnified 250 times. Every grain of sand in the world is unique when viewed through a microscope.





Sand Magnified by Yanping Wang www.nikonsmallworld.com





Sand Magnified 250x.
24.media.tumblr.com




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. Image Copyright © 2008 Dr. Gary Greenberg.





Puffy Stars -- Star-Shaped Sand Grains from Okinawa. These tiny foram, a type of protozoa, secrete beautiful star-shaped, calcium carbonate shells, or tests. www.sandgrains.com




Coral Sand magnified 100x 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.
Image Copyright © 2008 Dr. Gary Greenberg





Fragments of baby sea urchin shells. Biogenic sand, which forms from the remains of marine life, is the major ingredient of many tropical beaches. (Magnification 100x) popgive.com






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. waynesword.palomar.edu






A Grain of Sand - Nature's Secret Wonder
The Amazing Microphotography of 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.


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." It is estimated that the total number of 'all' grains of sand on the whole planet could be approximately 2000 billion billion. Scientists still believe there are more stars in the Universe. hassers.blogspot.com

And as to 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 900 planets have been discovered so far... directedplay.com




Buy the Images: www.sandgrains.com

Buy the Book: A Grain of Sand: Nature's Secret Wonder by Dr Gary Greenberg
www.amazon.com
 

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Showing comments 1 to 50 of 563 | Next | Last

Pam Chambers
Posts: 564

Grains of sand
Reply #563 on : Tue June 18, 2013, 13:11:46

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Ron, thank you for posting these incredible photos. I am mesmerized by them!

Anonymous
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #562 on : Tue June 18, 2013, 11:02:21

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If you go to the Baths on Virgin Gorda - not all of the beach is coral sand - I brought some of my husband's ashes and let them drift to the beach!

Norinne Wilson
Posts: 564

Microscopic Grainf of Sand......
Reply #561 on : Tue June 18, 2013, 09:52:33

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Thank you for this wonderful Email!! Isn't nature wonderful. This puts sand in a different category in my mind!!

LORRAINE LITHGOW
Posts: 564

Grains of sand
Reply #560 on : Tue June 18, 2013, 06:38:40

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This is really the most facinating group of photographs I have ever seen Especially as a retired geography teacher

Clarence Stone
Posts: 564

grains of sand
Reply #559 on : Mon June 17, 2013, 23:05:39

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Amazing! Snowflakes ain't got nothing on grains of sand.

Marvin Gold
Posts: 564

Sand and God
Reply #558 on : Mon June 17, 2013, 20:33:03

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So many people credit the indescribable beauty of magnified grains of sand to the Lord, our Father in Heaven, our Creator, a Maestro, etc. Then the (intolerant) comment, "how can anyone not believe in God". So, my question is: Is it not possible for an atheist to appreciate such beauty, as well as the majesty of Yosemite or the beautiful coral reefs and fish of the tropical seas? I am and I do.

Ashley
Posts: 564

grains of sand
Reply #557 on : Mon June 17, 2013, 18:39:54

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Let go!

Gracia
Posts: 564

grains of sand
Reply #556 on : Mon June 17, 2013, 17:14:05

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Makes me feel like I'm a tiny grain in this small world of ours (feeling humble)

marilyn Clever
Posts: 564

Grains of Sand
Reply #555 on : Mon June 17, 2013, 15:40:13

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Is this also true of sand that is used to replenish beaches that have been washed away by storms?
I thoroughly enjoyed this display of magnified grains of sand. I cannot believe I have walked on such beautiful gems!

Alvin
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #554 on : Mon June 17, 2013, 15:14:15

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this is hard to believe. Al

Rose Jacobs
Posts: 564

bautiful sand
Reply #553 on : Mon June 17, 2013, 13:41:14

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Amazing

Anonymous
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #552 on : Mon June 17, 2013, 13:16:26

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they look like small rocks!

murf appling
Posts: 564

grains of sand
Reply #551 on : Mon June 17, 2013, 08:04:33

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magnificent = "His wonders to behold"

Cherie DeBevoise
Posts: 564

Gorgeous magnifications of the sand
Reply #550 on : Sun June 16, 2013, 23:53:31

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These magnifications and or macros of the sand are absolutely gorgeous...

Keep up the great works!

Cherie

Boy under pillows
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #549 on : Sun June 16, 2013, 22:32:06

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Of course.

Anonymous
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #548 on : Sun June 16, 2013, 20:29:57

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Beautiful! I ran out and bought two copies of the book.

butch manowki
Posts: 564

sand
Reply #547 on : Sun June 16, 2013, 15:25:44

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A nice reminder about all the things we don't know.

Anonymous
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #546 on : Sun June 16, 2013, 13:13:26

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How can anyone not believe in a God, a Maestro, who set and established all of this for our enjoyment?

Brenda Trainer-Huber
Posts: 564

Grains of Sand
Reply #545 on : Sun June 16, 2013, 01:44:53

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This is absolutely beautiful and amazing. What mighty works our creator has made!

Judy Holmes
Posts: 564

Sand
Reply #544 on : Sat June 15, 2013, 21:14:25

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Comment!

Lori
Posts: 564

Grains of Sand Magnified
Reply #543 on : Sat June 15, 2013, 19:21:58

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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!

Adel
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #542 on : Sat June 15, 2013, 18:01:26

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So Beautiful. Grew up on the beach but have forgotten. Time to go back and really "look" again.

Evelyn McGee
Posts: 564

grains of sand
Reply #541 on : Sat June 15, 2013, 15:29:24

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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.

Mary Pierce
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #540 on : Sat June 15, 2013, 11:23:37

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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.

Catherine
Posts: 564

Beautiful & very interesting
Reply #539 on : Fri June 14, 2013, 20:41:41

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Keep these types of things coming....we can learn so much from the internet without leaving our homes

Jim Kelly
Posts: 564

Grains of sand
Reply #538 on : Fri June 14, 2013, 13:36:24

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The more we discover about our world, the
more incredable it seems and we have just
begun to really know about it's wonders.

Roseanna De Felice
Posts: 564

Sea shells
Reply #537 on : Fri June 14, 2013, 01:24:44

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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.

Craig Vetter
Posts: 564

Sand
Reply #536 on : Thu June 13, 2013, 19:12:47

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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.

Doug Ray
Posts: 564

Grains of Sand
Reply #535 on : Thu June 13, 2013, 13:08:08

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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.

Fraser Leonard
Posts: 564

Grains of sand -like my ART
Reply #534 on : Thu June 13, 2013, 13:00:51

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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

Yvonne Morris
Posts: 564

Pictures of grains of sand
Reply #533 on : Thu June 13, 2013, 12:17:51

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They are so beautiful. How may I
buy them?

Jojo
Posts: 564

Heaven and Earth - Awesome
Reply #532 on : Thu June 13, 2013, 12:03:18

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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.

Anonymous
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #531 on : Thu June 13, 2013, 08:42:16

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Amazing what a great god we have.

jvilella
Posts: 564

Wiolliam Blake -engrave-r poet- mystic
Reply #530 on : Wed June 12, 2013, 22:55:20

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Blake wrote (Not Exact Quote):

The world in a grain of sand-An eternity in a minute"

Nature=1
God+Nature=1
God=0

Overwhelmed
Posts: 564

SAND
Reply #529 on : Wed June 12, 2013, 11:10:09

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Shows the awesome power of our creator.

Barbara
Posts: 564

The sands of lake Michigan
Reply #528 on : Wed June 12, 2013, 09:07:51

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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"

Anonymous
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #527 on : Tue June 11, 2013, 18:46:35

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Neat!

Jawad Jalal
Posts: 564

Almighty God
Reply #526 on : Tue June 11, 2013, 16:34:15

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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.

Karen
Posts: 564

The work of god
Reply #525 on : Tue June 11, 2013, 12:59:37

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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.

Janet Morton
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #524 on : Tue June 11, 2013, 10:14:19

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This is amazing. So beautiful!
God is an awesome God.

Eden Door
Posts: 564

Remarkable and beautiful
Reply #523 on : Tue June 11, 2013, 08:28:54

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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.

Anonymous
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #522 on : Tue June 11, 2013, 07:40:42

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This is so cool! Amazing! Who would ever think that the sand looks like this? This is truly an eye opener.

Brian Rich
Posts: 564

Sandy Inspiration
Reply #521 on : Mon June 10, 2013, 23:13:05

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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!

Pamela
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #520 on : Mon June 10, 2013, 23:12:20

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This is miraculous!!! I am almost speechless!

chris
Posts: 564

Grains of sand
Reply #519 on : Mon June 10, 2013, 19:20:54

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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 :)

Jim Wood
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #518 on : Mon June 10, 2013, 13:46:30

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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.

Rehnae Slayton
Posts: 564

Sand
Reply #517 on : Mon June 10, 2013, 13:22:55

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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

Anonymous
Posts: 564

Re: Magnified grains of sand
Reply #516 on : Mon June 10, 2013, 09:00:21

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The wonders of GOD. How little we appreciate HIS creation. Thanks for sharing this.

eltina stenhouse
Posts: 564

grains of sand magnified
Reply #515 on : Mon June 10, 2013, 03:07:51

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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

Kenneth H Miller
Posts: 564

The glacial deposited sand photo
Reply #514 on : Sun June 09, 2013, 18:33:39

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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

Showing comments 1 to 50 of 563 | Next | Last