Looking For A General Theory Of Sand ... In Leelanau


"Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore" by Mark Forton



Walking along Empire Beach, in the shadow of the dunes, ...

I observed a very thin stream of sand flowing down the face of the bluff.

Like a tiny flow of water from an open tap.

Curiously, the sand immediately around this stream - and as far a I could see, in all directions - was motionless.

Not a grain moved outside of the small stream.

Such a small, solitary, sand slide.

How does this happen?

"We don't know.  No one understands how sand works," says Randall Munroe, a New York Time's science writer.

Indeed, even the learned ones in the field of physics who study granular materials - known as "soft matter" - are stymied.

Because grains of sand have so many different properties - size, shape, weight, roughness, etc., ...

There is no formula to reliably predict if, when and how sand will move.

It remains a major, unsolved problem in physics, ...

And on the beach in Leelanau.

I'll keep digging for a solution.


See You In Leelanau Up North,
Chris


                    Visit A Leelanau Landmark:  Northern Michigan artist Mark Forton,
                    whose modernistic graphic design and mixed media works are
                    bold and colorful celebrations of nature.  Visit mafmovement.com.

 

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