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Photographic gallery.  Thousands of particles under the microscope.
Sand, Wiapio Beach, Hawaii, Hawaii Under the Microscope

Sand, Wiapio Beach, Hawaii, Hawaii

This is the grain at upper central in the earlier images. This is a near optic axis orientation of this biaxial (orthorhombic) olivine crystal but with oblique illumination the light is passing along an off-axis path. The linear polarizing filter has been rotated 90 degrees from the preceding image. This Oblique Dispertion Staining Color corresponds to a match at about 440 nanometers, RI of 1.700.

Transmitted Oblique Stop Dispersion Staining with One Linear Polarizing Filter, 1.680 Refractive Index HD Liquid

Definition/Function:

Significance in the Environment:

Characteristic Features:

Associated Particles:

References:

Deer, W.A., R.A. Howie, and J. Zussman, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ROCK-FORMING MINERALS, Longman Scientific & Technical, 1992.

Greenberg, Gary, A GRAIN OF SAND: NATURE'S SECRET WONDER, Voyageur Press, 2008.

Welland, Michael, SAND: THE NEVER ENDING STORY, University of California Press, 2009.

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artjun01/clsand.html
(Good Information on the microscopy of sand, Great site for more information on microscopy in general)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-grain-of-sand-natures-secret-wonder
(Good Information on Sand with links to more information on sand)

http://www.sciencelive.org/component/option,com_mediadb/task,play/idstr,Open-feeds_fsc_exploring_sedimentary_processes_fsc02_02_m4v/vv,-2/Itemid,97
(Brief, very informative video on what can be learned from the shape of a sand grain.)