Completely pointless

[kwew]

I did warn you, this is just a random pointless question, but one that has troubled me and a mate for a while, I think grains of sand but I sway occasionally.
Which is there more of, grains of sand or pints of water in the world?

[flynn101]

As a student geologist considering the earth is entirely made of rock/molten rock which would eventually be spewed out via a volcano or lifted to the surface. Once that gets into the weathering process etc. you shoud find that there is a infinite/limitless supply of sand whilst with water.... well youlll have to find an oceanologist. Anyway whos the brainiac who though of something like this?

[Sarastro]

Considering that countless biological and chemical processes create water, that it is made from two of the most common atoms on the planet, and that the world is already 70% covered by water, including oceans which go hundreds of miles deep, you can pretty much assume that water is in infinite supply as well.

The question, however, was if there were more PINTS of water than GRAINS of sand, and it is my considered opinion that I couldn't give a toss.

[markd]

The question, however, was if there were more PINTS of water than GRAINS of sand, and it is my considered opinion that I couldn't give a toss.

ahaha brilliant I'd say there were more grains of sand? Do you actually know the answer?

[Doc]

Grains of sand / Pints of Water / or..............blades of grass?

Also what size grains of sand and what if your counting and get to 1,000,002 and the grain your holding fractures and you have 2? and what if your counting grains of sand whilst drinking a pint of water and you drop the glass, does that pint count?

[sneaky beaky]

And what happens when you pour a pint of water into a pint of sand?
Does the sand absorb the water - or does the water spill over? Or does it all spill over?
Sneaky

[proffered]

Sorry, I've got to disagree - both water and sand/rock etc. are finite resources.

As to pints of water versus grains of sand - www.howstuffworks.com estimates 326 million trillion gallons of water on the Earth (I daren't attempt to convert silly American billions into pints, lest I look like a buffoon).

www.hypertextbook.com places the average volume of a grain of sand at between 1.13 x 10 (-13) and 4.85 x 10 (-9) metres cubed (sorry, I don't know how to do superscript).

A gallon equals 4.55 x 10 (-3) metres cubed, hence you could fit between 40265486726 and 938144 grains per gallon.

As pointed out, the surface of the Earth is approx 70 percent water. Given that we can't accurately comment on the sub-surface of the Earth, we are left with a maximum of 30 percent of the Earth's surface being covered in sand.

www.oxfam.org.uk states that 1/3 of the Earth's surface is desert (as defined by a precipitation level less than 100mm per annum), and that less than 20% of this is sand, giving us a theoretical maximum of 1/15 of the Earth's surface being sand.

Using the volume of water on Earth as a baseline to the total volume of the Earth's crust, this equates to (326/7)x10 = 465 (total vol. of Earth's surface in mil tril gallons).
465/15 = 31 million trillion gallons of sand.
If we take the smallest estimate of sand grains per gallon, to attempt to compensate for the air between grains, we are given:
31 million trillion x 938144 = 29082464 million trillion grains.
Therefore there should be many more grains of sand than pints of water.

However, a number of disclaimers:

(1) I'm not that good at maths (but not too bad), so any errors in calculation will distort this.
(2) I've used figures taken from a number of websites, I've no reason to disagree with them but they may lie for fun.
(3) I've made a number of unvalidated assumptions, esp regarding the number of grains of sand per gallon
(4) I've deliberately ignored any sand contained within the Earth vs the Earth's crust, though that said it shouldn't affect the validity of the results, merely the magnitude.

And yes, I apologise for being sad enough to look into this. Did pique my interest though.

Any further thoughts?

Adi

[Doc]

but arent mammels made up of 80% water so therefore doesnt this need to be taken into consideration?

[themattmeister]

Sorry, I've got to disagree - both water and sand/rock etc. are finite resources.

As to pints of water versus grains of sand - www.howstuffworks.com estimates 326 million trillion gallons of water on the Earth (I daren't attempt to convert silly American billions into pints, lest I look like a buffoon).

www.hypertextbook.com places the average volume of a grain of sand at between 1.13 x 10 (-13) and 4.85 x 10 (-9) metres cubed (sorry, I don't know how to do superscript).

A gallon equals 4.55 x 10 (-3) metres cubed, hence you could fit between 40265486726 and 938144 grains per gallon.

As pointed out, the surface of the Earth is approx 70 percent water. Given that we can't accurately comment on the sub-surface of the Earth, we are left with a maximum of 30 percent of the Earth's surface being covered in sand.

www.oxfam.org.uk states that 1/3 of the Earth's surface is desert (as defined by a precipitation level less than 100mm per annum), and that less than 20% of this is sand, giving us a theoretical maximum of 1/15 of the Earth's surface being sand.

Using the volume of water on Earth as a baseline to the total volume of the Earth's crust, this equates to (326/7)x10 = 465 (total vol. of Earth's surface in mil tril gallons).
465/15 = 31 million trillion gallons of sand.
If we take the smallest estimate of sand grains per gallon, to attempt to compensate for the air between grains, we are given:
31 million trillion x 938144 = 29082464 million trillion grains.
Therefore there should be many more grains of sand than pints of water.

However, a number of disclaimers:

(1) I'm not that good at maths (but not too bad), so any errors in calculation will distort this.
(2) I've used figures taken from a number of websites, I've no reason to disagree with them but they may lie for fun.
(3) I've made a number of unvalidated assumptions, esp regarding the number of grains of sand per gallon
(4) I've deliberately ignored any sand contained within the Earth vs the Earth's crust, though that said it shouldn't affect the validity of the results, merely the magnitude.

And yes, I apologise for being sad enough to look into this. Did pique my interest though.

Any further thoughts?

Adi

Surely salt water isn't strictly water as it is mixed with salt therefore giving it more volume ergo filling more pints with water?

Maybe you could add ice into the equation, this also adds to the volume of water as it freezes.

You could then consider evaporated water in the atmosphere at any one moment.

Oh and also soil saturation.

You can make up seperate equations for those if you want Adi?

There's just too much to think of damn it, I was happy in blissful ignorance of the ratio between sand and water.

[proffered]

Doc - I wish I was 80% water - would be easier to lose weight than trying to shift my lardy arse around on runs We were taught 60% - I think a cucumber is 80% water

Matt - true, all these things could and would have an effect, though they would probably just raise the salt figure - it should still result in there being more grains of salt...

And again, I apologise - I really do have too much time on my hands. The girlfriend was watching Hollyoaks when I looked into it, and I'll be damned if I'm watching that rubbish. Now, Adam Hart-Davis, he's always good on TV...

[Wee Willy Winkie]

adrian your a legend! if i did that equation i would be well chuffed with myself, even if it was totally wrong. you got the standard form goin on, jeez it just rocks man!! w.w.w

[Guest]

My view, is that you could maybe fit 1,000,000 grains of sand into one pint (this is an estimate). Also yes, the water does go down miles in the deeper parts of the sea, but thinking of the desart, there is probly more grains of sand going down then pints going down in the sea. Also Saying there was 5000 pints going down in the water, but you would have 5,000,000,000 grains of sand going down based on the 1,000,000 grains of sand into one pint theory. Also think about how deep the sand goes at the sea bed. Im assuming 80% of the sea bed has sand on it, and the sands thinkness is probly makes a larger ratio in grains of sand to pints of water. Also I do belive sand is used to make concrete, so that sand should be taken to account.

Imagine how many grains of sand there is there.

[dalo]

Laughing out loud. i forgot about the seabed lol

[Wee Willy Winkie]

see stinky, thats more like it!! you gave a worthwhile response of your opinion. the old stinky probably would have said something like 'do you think water weighs more than sand? (or something like that anyways.) (this aint a sarcastic post btw) W.W.W

[Guest]

Ahhh yes, I only thought of it while half way through my typing .
I'm happy i've been appreciated that little bit more