Waterproof sand won't get wet

This hydrophobic sand doesn't get wet -- it was invented to soak up oil-spills, and now no one really knows what to do with it. Link (via Dvice)

[#1 posted by jere7my , January 21, 2008 9:36 AM]

Is that "Magic Sand"? I had a bottle of that stuff when I was ten or so. It's great for making underwater sandcastles!

[#2 posted by se7a7n7 , January 21, 2008 9:39 AM]

Maybe you could sprinkle it on the ground before it snows to make it easier to shovel the next day

[#3 posted by One Dr. Moore , January 21, 2008 9:46 AM]

It sure is. Magi Sand I mean. Not really new, and not exactly purposeless, it gave me minutes, whole minutes, of entertainment back in the day. Once we replaced the sugar with it, and my Dad put it in his coffee.

http://www.amazon.com/Tubs-Magic-Sand-Counter-Display-Great/dp/B000P634PW/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1200937414&sr=8-2

[#4 posted by Zac Garrett , January 21, 2008 10:33 AM]

My brother was just talking about that sand stuff last week. He said that its as easy as drying out sand in an oven and then scotchguarding it.

No idea if its true or not, but my brother seems to know quite a few random facts of this sort.

[#5 posted by schmod , January 21, 2008 12:12 PM]

"It was invented to soak up oil-spills, and now no one really knows what to do with it."

They could use it to clean up oil spills.

Problem solved. NEXT!

[#6 posted by ill lich , January 21, 2008 12:16 PM]

Ehhh. . . throw some "ice-9" on it.

[#7 posted by Brett Burton , January 21, 2008 12:23 PM]

Someone want to explain how you build a sand castle with something that doesn't interact with water? If you can't moisten it, aren't you just making piles of sand and not castles? ...also, I love the description of Magic Sand on Amazon "Hottest Toy On The Market Today". Right.

[#8 posted by kiki1971 , January 21, 2008 12:37 PM]

Brett....

Guess you never had Magic Sand as a kid.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513PZVSQSML._AA280_.jpg

Your loss....it was FUN!

[#9 posted by Antinous , January 21, 2008 1:30 PM]

Am I the only one who wants to start a band called The Hydrophobic Sand?

[#10 posted by Brett Burton , January 21, 2008 1:31 PM]

Oh... that picture totally explains it, thanks...
wait, what?!!

[#11 posted by claud9999 , January 21, 2008 1:54 PM]

Magic Sand: you'd use bottles with the sand and wter with nozzles to pour/squirt the sand in water; because the sand is hydrophobic, the water acts to lubricate the sand and it pours like soft mud, but when it would drop to the bottom it would pile up nicely so you'd make this way-cool drippy '70's psychedelic rock sand castles underwater with this stuff. When you were done, you'd pour the water out and air-dry the sand and start the process all over.

Unless you mixed the colors, there's no easy way to un-mix colors. It would be cool to have different colors in different sizes so you could centrifuge them. Or if you made one with iron in the grains, you could magnetically separate them...Ah, the possibilities.

[#12 posted by benwinden , January 21, 2008 3:15 PM]

Maybe in the Netherlands we could build strong waterproof dikes with this sand.

[#13 posted by EH , January 21, 2008 3:30 PM]

Similarly to how surface tension holds wet sand together, water pressure holds magic sand together.

[#14 posted by TayArgJosh18 , January 21, 2008 3:45 PM]

Hydrophobic? Just what we need, more division in the world. If Sand and Water want to mix it up or even marry, the hydrophobes should stay out of the way.
But (almost) all kidding aside, what we really need is hydrophobic Bourbon so the ice cubes won't water down my drink.

[#15 posted by spike55151 , January 21, 2008 3:52 PM]

I used to buy this all the time as a kid. My parents hated it. They called it "Magic Mess".