Summer Fun Beach Quiz
- How much do you know about the beach?
FORT MYERS - It's summer! Time to hit the beach! How much do you know about your beach and the sand you walk on? Take the ASBPA's 2009 Cool Summer Quiz to find out!
1. How is sand formed?
a. From sea shells breaking
b. From rocks in the mountains
c. From animals
d. In a sand manufacturing plant
ANSWER: A, B and C.
Some sand starts out as rocks in the mountains. Freezing and thawing, wave action and abrasion, or rubbing together by other rocks and water, break smaller pieces of the rocks away from the larger pieces. When it rains, it carries these smaller pieces down to the beach.
2. Animals also make sand.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: A.
It is true! The empty shells of animals also make sand. Over time, the
waves break up the shells and cause them to become smaller and smaller
- until they become a tiny grain of sand. So, if left on the beach, the shells under your toes will eventually turn into sand. Also, some animals actually produce sand much like an oyster makes a pearl.
3. What is a beach?
a. A place to recreate and relax
b. A barrier from hurricanes and nor'easters
c. A place for sea animals, such as sea turtles, to nest
d. All of the above
ANSWER: D.
A beach is the shore or edge of a body of water (such as an ocean). Typically, the beach is made up of sand, pebbles, stone or gravel that has been deposited by waves, the tide or by rivers. Beaches have three primary uses - recreation, storm protection and environmental habitats.
4. What is sand made of?
a. Rocks
b. Minerals
c. Volcanic rock
d. Organic material
e. All of the above
ANSWER: E.
Sand is made of a number of different types of minerals and rocks. Some of the most common are quartz, feldspar, mica and hornblende. What the sand is made of depends on where it came from. Sand may start out as volcanic rock, quartz rock, organic material or from rocks that contain a number of minerals and materials. One way to tell if a sample of sand contains organic material is to add vinegar to the sand sample. If it starts to bubble, a portion of the sand comes from organic sources.
5. How many grains of sand are on a typical beach?
a. Too many to count
b. Approximately 1 billion
c. It depends on the size of the beach
d. Enough to bury yourself in it
ANSWER: C.
This depends on the size of the beach. There are short beaches and long beaches, wide beaches and skinny beaches. Scientists at the University of Hawaii have determined there are approximately 7.5 quintillion (7,500,000,000,000,000,000) grains of sand on the world's beaches.
For more fun facts about your beach, please visit www.asbpa.org.
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