Are sand and silica the same thing?

Question

Are sand and silica the same thing?

Answer 1

Some sand are made of quartz, others are made of feldspar and other minerals. So to answer your question, sand made of quartz are high in silica content. However, this does not mean that other types of sand are not made of silica, but the amount as a proportion of the overall mineral content might not be as significant. Most types of glasses used commercially are dependent on sand that consists of silica ( which is why pure quartz sand is used in glass production.) Quartz is a hard mineral primarily composed of silica in its crystalline form.

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Most types of sand rich in silica derive from sandstone and quartzite rocks. Weathering disintegrates the compounds into what is known as sand, but the mineral composition is more or less the same ---(still contain high amounts of silica.) The sand you will find on beaches and in seas is a result of this physical disintegration of sandstones and quartzite rocks.

Answer 2

Silica is also a type of sand.

Answer 3

No, sand and silica are not the same thing. Sand denotes the size of a particle not its composition. Silica is quartz (SiO2).

The Udden-Wentworth particle size scale states that rock and mineral particles that are between 2 and 0.0625 millimeters (0.079 to 0.0025 inch) in diameter are Sand particles.

Answer 4

Sand can be any finely divided rock.

Silica is Silicate rock.

Answer 5

Dave J's answer plus:

90+% of the world's sand is silica

The rest is made of shell, coral and other minerals

Answer 6

Generally, yes.

Most sand we're familiar with are composed of just crushed up quartz (seen in a variety of forms such as rock crystal or amethyst)  which is just silicon dioxide (or silica).  

Some sands however could be composed of other minerals that contain silicon (which have a different chemical composition) depending on the location.  For more info on sand and silica, wikipedia's a good place to start.