A plain, old door? Maybe. OR – a door that can open a passageway into a whole new world! To find out what is behind it, it has to be opened!
Helping our children check out new realms of adventure and learning is something parents do from day one. Your child learns to eat, communicate with you, crawl, then walk, and so on. They learn about their environment from their natural curiosity of the world around them that they see, touch, taste, hear, and smell everyday. They develop a long list of likes and dislikes from a fairly early age that they continually refine and up-date as they grow older. Parents reinforce their child’s curiosity by responding to his or her wants, needs, and natural interests. Most often, we do this without even thinking about it! Going for walks, shopping together, playing outside, listening to music, reading, going to the beach, and a million other opportunities that we expose our children to just happen as a normal part of living.
I like having doors to open! There is always so much to check out and explore. Today’s door opens to a close up view – a REAL close up view – of something we often take for granted. The way things appear to our naked eye is one way but under a powerful microscope that which we view as “normal” can look a whole lot different! Summer’s tribute to the beach is summed up in the image below. Use it as a conversation piece or as an introduction to investigating this earth through a different perspective!
What in the world is THIS??
Well, what looks like colorful pebbles or pieces of glass is actually grains of sand magnified 300 times. Photographer, Dr. Gary Greenwood, uses his microscope to view and photograph individual grains of sand and carefully compiles the photos into one image.
Sand is composed of many materials that vary in shape, color, and texture. Pieces of things like the spines of sea urchins, shells, and even rocks in rivers and streams slowly erode and are carried to the ocean where waves smash them into even smaller pieces. The finer the sand, the older it is. Beaches in the Mid-Atlantic States, for example, are made up of crumbling Appalachian Mountains that have been ground down over millions of years! Interesting to think that when you are walking on a beach in Maryland you are actually walking on a mountain! Check out the websites for more images and cool things to know about sand!
CREDITS:
Images created by Dr. Gary Greenwood
http://www.geologypage.com/2019/08/magnified-sand-magnified-photos-shows-how-sand-looks-like
Photo copyright: 2008, Sandgrains.com
https://www.businessinsider.com/images-of-sand-grains-through-a-microscope-2014-1
Tracking Time Through Shifting Sands
Lauren J. Young, July 19, 2021. Science Friday.
https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/shifting-sands/