Hydrophobic sand

Magical Realist said:
Tremendously unhelpful as usual..
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Then post some words worth replying to.

Pending such a momentous event, here are some words for you to read, about what hydrophobic sand is, some of its properties and how it is made: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_sand

(I found this after a 5 sec search on Wikipaedia, as you could have done, yourself.)

Of course, this will have been written by somebody educated in science, so you are free to disregard it all on principle if you like.
 
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Magical Realist said:
Here's a demonstration of it:

How is this possible?
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You simply coat grains of sand in a hydrophobic compound of some sort. The hydrophobic compound limits the attraction of the water to the sand, so in water it tends to stick together as it can't/doesn't stick to water (I.e. doesn't get wet). But as soon as it is out of water it seems dry as the water simply doesn't stick to it.
As to how they make it, I'm sure you could find some explanation on t'internet somewhere.
Also, anything that removes the hydrophobic compound (some soaps may, perhaps) will destroy the magic. :)
 
exchemist said:
Then post some words worth replying to.

Pending such a momentous event, here are some words for you to read, about what hydrophobic sand is, some of its properties and how it is made: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_sand

(I found this after a 5 sec search on Wikipaedia, as you could have done, yourself.)

Of course, this will have been written by somebody educated in science, so you are free to disregard it all on principle if you like.
Click to expand...

I could stay on Google and find all my answers in 5 minutes. But this is a discussion forum meant for discussion. So I have to stay intentionally uninformed for that to happen sometimes.
 
Magical Realist said:
Here's a demonstration of it:


https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CbcNZ7iW0AAPHwx.mp4

How is this possible?
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The word sand implies silicon dioxide . Now there is an very fine hydrophobic silica which was made by Cabot corp. So I would say if I would take some of the beach sand and I would mix the hydrophobic silica an I would get rid of the excess of the fin Hydrophobic silica my sand will be hydrophobic sand.
Take the example of glass , since glass is silica water will wet glass but if you heat glass to about 500 C you will make the glass surface hydrophobic The same should take place on sand it should become hydrophobic .
 
timojin said:
The word sand implies silicon dioxide . Now there is an very fine hydrophobic silica which was made by Cabot corp. So I would say if I would take some of the beach sand and I would mix the hydrophobic silica an I would get rid of the excess of the fin Hydrophobic silica my sand will be hydrophobic sand.
Take the example of glass , since glass is silica water will wet glass but if you heat glass to about 500 C you will make the glass surface hydrophobic The same should take place on sand it should become hydrophobic .
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Where do you get the information that heating glass to 500C makes it hydrophobic? I think that's nonsense. I have spent many hours building a vacuum line by welding glass, at temperatures well over 500C, and I have never seen any evidence of abnormal behaviour around the welded joints.

"Hydrophobic silica" has siloxane groups bound to the surface. That is a chemical modification process, not just heating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrophobic_silica
 
Magical Realist said:
I could stay on Google and find all my answers in 5 minutes. But this is a discussion forum meant for discussion. So I have to stay intentionally uninformed for that to happen sometimes.
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Maybe it's still good to google in advance - if the answer is really simple, it's too boring for discussion anyways. If there is complex or contradicting information to be found, you can ask, tell about the findings, and be sure to start a interesting discussion. People will welcome it if you can start with some background info and a brief summary of the perceived problems of the topic in question.

If you feel curious about hydrophobic surfaces which are not chemically hydrophobic, but by nano-structure, you can look here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_effect

It was discovered on plants first, but it now used in many applications.

So you can make hydrophobic sand at least in two basically different ways:

- hydrophobic coating
- nanostructuring of the surface

So chemistry and physics offer options here.

Alien technology is very interesting. Unfortunately we have too few alien artifacts to reaserch.
 
Edont Knoff said:
Maybe it's still good to google in advance - if the answer is really simple, it's too boring for discussion anyways. If there is complex or contradicting information to be found, you can ask, tell about the findings, and be sure to start a interesting discussion. People will welcome it if you can start with some background info and a brief summary of the perceived problems of the topic in question.

If you feel curious about hydrophobic surfaces which are not chemically hydrophobic, but by nano-structure, you can look here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_effect

It was discovered on plants first, but it now used in many applications.

So you can make hydrophobic sand at least in two basically different ways:

- hydrophobic coating
- nanostructuring of the surface

So chemistry and physics offer options here.

Alien technology is very interesting. Unfortunately we have too few alien artifacts to reaserch.
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I am not sure if you mentioned . vaporizing quarts at high temperature. also heating sand in presence of carbon these are other ways to make hydrophobic sand.
I do not want to dispute with exchemist about his experience , but if you heat glass with a torch , there will be some carbon incorporated onto the glass surface which will make it hydrophobic.
 
timojin said:
I am not sure if you mentioned . vaporizing quarts at high temperature. also heating sand in presence of carbon these are other ways to make hydrophobic sand.
I do not want to dispute with exchemist about his experience , but if you heat glass with a torch , there will be some carbon incorporated onto the glass surface which will make it hydrophobic.
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Reference required. I've never heard of this and it certainly did not manifest itself when I was making glassware.

The softening point of glass is around 700C I believe, well over the 500C you speak of. By the way I have also made quartz capillaries - by drawing out quartz tubes softened by heating - expressly in order to condense water in them. No hydrophobic behaviour was evident.
 
exchemist said:
Reference required. I've never heard of this and it certainly did not manifest itself when I was making glassware.

The softening point of glass is around 700C I believe, well over the 500C you speak of. By the way I have also made quartz capillaries - by drawing out quartz tubes softened by heating - expressly in order to condense water in them. No hydrophobic behaviour was evident.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silica_fume
Silica fume is a byproduct in the carbothermic reduction of high-purity quartz with carbonaceous materials like coal, coke, wood-chips, in electric arc furnaces in the production of silicon and ferrosilicon alloys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumed_silica
Fumed silica is made from flame pyrolysis of silicon tetrachloride or from quartz sand vaporized in a 3000 °C electric arc.[2] Major global producers are Evonik (who sells it under the name Aerosil), Cabot Corporation (Cab-O-Sil),Wacker Chemie (HDK), Dow Corning, and OCI (Konasil).
 
timojin said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silica_fume
Silica fume is a byproduct in the carbothermic reduction of high-purity quartz with carbonaceous materials like coal, coke, wood-chips, in electric arc furnaces in the production of silicon and ferrosilicon alloys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumed_silica
Fumed silica is made from flame pyrolysis of silicon tetrachloride or from quartz sand vaporized in a 3000 °C electric arc.[2] Major global producers are Evonik (who sells it under the name Aerosil), Cabot Corporation (Cab-O-Sil),Wacker Chemie (HDK), Dow Corning, and OCI (Konasil).
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These references say nothing whatsoever about either silica fume or fumed silica being hydrophobic. Why did you refer to them?
 
Maybe it's still good to google in advance - if the answer is really simple, it's too boring for discussion anyways.
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No..it's better to ask about something you genuinely don't know than research it for pat explanations and never discuss it. I like the dialogue. The differing takes on the standard theory. Observe how much has occurred already. In a forum that's basically on life-support, we need to be more welcoming to new threads rather than censoring them out of existence.
 
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Magical Realist said:
He said as he replies to my post. lol!
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I relented, partly in the hope that someone sensible might pick up the discussion. :D

Seriously, MR, I am always delighted to converse sensibly about science. But I have no time for people who post in bad faith, in order to wind up those who have taken the time and trouble to make detailed responses about science. You, irritatingly, seem to flip-flop between both. You may have noticed that I am far from the only person here who finds you, at times, a dickhead. If you try not to be, I am happy to discuss things with you.

But I don't watch videos, unless someone takes the trouble to explain, in words, exactly why it would not be a waste of my time. That is because most videos posted on forum discussions are either shite, or so dilute that you have to watch for several minutes for them to make a point that could have made in words in a few sentences.
 
exchemist said:
I relented, partly in the hope that someone sensible might pick up the discussion. :D

Seriously, MR, I am always delighted to converse sensibly about science. But I have no time for people who post in bad faith, in order to wind up those who have taken the time and trouble to make detailed responses about science. You, irritatingly, seem to flip-flop between both. You may have noticed that I am far from the only person here who finds you, at times, a dickhead. If you try not to be, I am happy to discuss things with you.

But I don't watch videos, unless someone takes the trouble to explain, in words, exactly why it would not be a waste of my time. That is because most videos posted on forum discussions are either shite, or so dilute that you have to watch for several minutes for them to make a point that could have made in words in a few sentences.
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You're the only one flip flopping around here. You're not going to reply. Then you are going to reply. I waste your time. But you hang around and keep posting here. Tell ya what. If I reduce you to such a fidgety little mess, maybe you shouldn't post in my threads at all. It was a simple question with a demonstrational video. Why is this upsetting you so much? Are you on something?
 
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