Document Type
Full Issue
Publication Date
2-1895
Abstract
Into a box holding one cubic foot, or seven and one-half gallons of dry sand, one can usually pour from two to three gallons of water without causing any overflow. If the particles of sand were of the same size and cubical in form, they could be packed into a solid mass; and a cubic foot, instead of weighing about 100 pounds--the average weight of dry quartz sand--would then weigh about 165 pounds. But sand grains are irregular in form, and come in contact with adjacent grains only at particular points, thus enclosing spaces or voids, which in dry sand are filled with air. Hence it follows, that in pouring water into a vessel filled with dry sand, the water, being the heavier substance, displaces the greater part of the air and produces what we term saturated sand.
Recommended Citation
Fortier, Samuel, "Bulletin No. 38 - Preliminary Report on Seepage Water and the Underflow of Rivers" (1895). UAES Bulletins. Paper 7.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/uaes_bulletins/7