justify statement"sand is a solid

Question

 please tell why sand is a solid breifly

Answer 1

Hi Robin

Matter can exist in one of three states: solid, liquid, or gas.

The chemical makeup of sand varies but for the most part it is made up of SiO2, silicon dioxide (also called silica). At the beach, sand exists in the solid state, even though grains of sand don't naturally stick together it is still in a solid state. Claiming that sand is in a different state is like saying breakfast cereal is not in a solid state.

The molecular bonds of silica keep it in a solid state at the observed temperature, but if you were to heat up silica to 1600 degrees C, it would in fact melt. At that temperature, the bonds can't keep silica (or sand) in a solid state.