Beach

Why is the Washington palm (Washingtonia robusta) also known as the petticoat palm or the priest palm? The answer is quite simple: when the lower fronds die off and droop, they look like a sort of petticoat or priest’s habit – depending upon the viewer’s imagination.

The beach is an interface where the elements collide. It is only there because water is there – and because of the way the sea currents flowed, and washed sand and pebbles ashore. The sea and the wind formed the sand. And every wave changes the shape of the beach, at every moment.

Fine, white sandy beaches owe their colour to the coral skeletons that have been crushed by the waves. The black sand found on volcanic islands is composed of weathered basalt. But between the two extremes there is also room for other, very unusual hues, such as the delicate pink sand on some coral islands, or the green sand on certain beaches in Hawaii.

Venice Beach in Los Angeles is not only a favourite location for countless films but also a training ground for various types of sport – from beach volleyball to surfing. It is also home to Muscle Beach, founded in 1930 as a sports facility for public gymnastics events and today the world’s most famous open-air fitness studio.

Geologists divide sand into three categories: coarse sand (with grains ranging in size from 0.63 to 2.0 mm), medium sand (0.20 to 0.63 mm) and fine sand (0.063 to 0.20 mm). Quartz sand is mainly used in glass manufacturing and is melted with additional materials at a temperature of about 1480°C. Depending on the end product, the glass is then pressed, blown, extruded, spun or rolled.

By the time the sun’s rays heat up the beach, they have already travelled a distance of 149,597,870 km. That gives some indication of the power in the centre of our planetary system. The temperature of the outer layer of the sun is about 6,100°C. It is the sun’s energy that makes life on earth possible in the first place.