Glass Sand for Arenas

[StormyDay]

I recently watched an interview with the founder of this company https://glasshalffullproducts.com/

Which was very interesting. The product is being used along beaches, in golf sand traps, in landscaping, and more. It can be crushed into super fine, fine, course, or gravel pieces, and because its glass can come in a variety of colors.

I’m in one of the areas of the USA where getting true sand is difficult; we end up having to pulverize granite to get stone dust, which usually compacts too much. Apparently this product is really safe. I wonder if this may be the future for riding arenas. My county doesn’t even recycle, so I’m sure there is a plethora of glass! It’s pretty expensive right now, but my thought was if you don’t particularly care about the color, maybe the price could go down pretty significantly.

[CHT]

That is very interesting. Sounds like safer for humans than the Silica sand currently used.

[StormyDay]

@CHT

That is very interesting. Sounds like safer for humans than the Silica sand currently used.

Yes and probably way less dusty.
Also think of all the color options… green arena? Pink arena?
It almost makes me want to invest in a glass crusher.

[George_T_Mule]

Silica = SiO₂ = glass.
Glass can also have additives to modify color and other properties, but it is primarily Silica.
Dust is the problem, and keeping the dust down is about the only solution barring a face mask.
Coarser grains will probably turn to dust somewhat more slowly than otherwise, but it will eventually get ground down to a fine powder regardless. Steel shoes will make it happen faster than barefoot, too.
https://www.osha.gov/silica-crystalline
That said, as long as you manage it so as to keep the dust out of the air for the most part, it really isn’t toxic or anything. You might not want to use it in an arena shared with Horse stalls.
I will comment that one of the nicest arena surfaces I have ridden on (I am by no means an expert, so take with a tablespoon of salt), was a chopped rubber material. I can tell you nothing else about it; that’s what the owner told me it was, and it was a very high-end facility, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a very high-dollar material. But it was nicey-nice . . . :-).

[Janet]

@CHT

Sounds like safer for humans than the Silica sand currently used.

What is the difference between silica sand and glass sand? (Glass is basically silicon dioxide, and so is silica)

[StormyDay]

@Janet

@CHT

Sounds like safer for humans than the Silica sand currently used.

What is the difference between silica sand and glass sand? (Glass is basically silicon dioxide, and so is silica)

Hopefully someone chimes in with more info, but I think because this is all uniform size it has no dust. So even though it’s still made of the same stuff (glass is sand) it’s so uniform that it takes longer to break down into that silty grossness that drifts through the air on hot summer days.

[JLK]

Silica in glass is amorphous, not crystalline - the Si and O atoms are not rigidly organized. Silica in sand is crystalline, with a very organized molecular structure. And it’s the respirable crystalline particulate that is of concern- the fines that can penetrate deep into the alveoli.

[George_T_Mule]

This appears to be The Correct Answer. I didn’t realize that crystalline vs amorphous made any difference. “Ya learn somethin’ new every day.” Thanks JLK :-).

[StormyDay]

Wooo thanks for chiming in. Isn’t COTH amazing, how many have such awesome knowledge in varied topics!

[Mosey_2003]

@Janet

What is the difference between silica sand and glass sand? (Glass is basically silicon dioxide, and so is silica)

“Silica sand” is what they make glass from. Why they decided to call that particular sand that in the beginning is beyond me, because ALL sand is silica, not just the fine white kind. It’s on part with “PIN Number” and “ATM Machine.”

[Janet]

@JLK

Silica in glass is amorphous, not crystalline - the Si and O atoms are not rigidly organized. Silica in sand is crystalline, with a very organized molecular structure. And it’s the respirable crystalline particulate that is of concern- the fines that can penetrate deep into the alveoli.

I know that glass is fused, and technically a liquid.

So are saying that it is the crystalline structure of (unfused) silica that causes lung damage, rather than the size of the particles?

[NoSuchPerson]

@Mosey_2003

because ALL sand is silica

The term “sand” refers to the physical nature of the substance while the “silica” in “silica sand” tells you the chemical composition. “Silica sand” is sand made primarily from silica. However, there is also gypsum sand, which is what you find at, e.g. White Sands National Park. And the sand at black sand beaches is volcanic in origin.

There are as many different kinds of sand as there are solid materials that can be ground into sand.

[Mosey_2003]

@NoSuchPerson

The term “sand” refers to the physical nature of the substance while the “silica” in “silica sand” tells you the chemical composition. “Silica sand” is sand made primarily from silica. However, there is also gypsum sand, which is what you find at, e.g. White Sands National Park. And the sand at black sand beaches is volcanic in origin.

That is good to know, thank you! But also, all the other natural sands that you run across are also silica sands, thus the confusion.

[JLK]

Both the crystalline structure and the particle size affect the toxicity of silicon dioxide (sand). Large particulates are trapped in the upper respiratory tract (if you blow your nose when it’s been dusty, you can see how efficient a capture mechanism your nasopharyngeal area has. All that snot you blow out has done a good job of capturing the bigger particulates - and a really cool mechanism, the mucociliary elevator, moves that dirty snot up to your nose and mouth, where you either swallow it or snort it out. That, obviously, is not the technical explanation for how it works).

Very small particulates, those less than about 5 microns in size, do a very good job of getting past that defense mechanism. They can penetrate deep into your alveoli, where the gas exchange occurs in your lungs. Once there, they can scar the lungs (silicosis) - and cause lung cancer.

Worksafe BC has an extremely good video on what happens when you breathe respirable crystalline silica [RCS].

When the sand in your arena (whether it contains silica or not) breaks down, it will form respirable particulates. If it was pure glass, the primary particulate would be amorphous silica. That has not been associated with lung scarring (fibrosis) or cancer. I wouldn’t consider it harmless, though. It’s much less researched than RCS, and there is, overall, probably much less exposure to the respirable form than you find with RCS.

And one more comment: as NoSuchPerson stated, there are different types of sand. Most often, when we say sand, we’re talking about quartz. Gypsum, for instance, isn’t quartz or silica sand - but it can have enough quartz in it as a contaminant to create overexposure to RCS.