Sand has been used for construction since 7000 BCE, but its use ramped up at the turn of the 20th century.RN's Saturday ExtraConcrete, which is made out of sand and gravel, is now used to make our buildings, shopping malls and roads.
Great Moments in Science looks at how many products and industries have sand as an ingredient, and why it's one that's running low. Sand from the desert is unsuitable for construction, so instead we mostly use sand found at the bottom of rivers, lakes, oceans and on beaches. Beiser says the world uses 50 billion tonnes of this kind of sand every year — more than any other natural resource,"except for water".
"When you are talking about quantities that large, sooner or later you're going to run into shortages, and that is in fact what is happening in a growing number of places around the world," he says.
tarynpriadko The NSW government will leave no stone unturned to get at sand for the development industry with the objective to achieve an 8 million Sydney. The next frontier is offshore sand. Construction costs will go up