Sand vs. Glass — What's the Difference?

Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size.

Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent amorphous solid, that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of the molten form; some glasses such as volcanic glass are naturally occurring.

Small loose grains of worn or disintegrated rock.

A hard, brittle substance, typically transparent or translucent, made by fusing sand with soda and lime and cooling rapidly. It is used to make windows, drinking containers, and other articles

(Geology) A sedimentary material, finer than a granule and coarser than silt, with grains between 0.06 and 2.0 millimeters in diameter.

A drinking container made from glass

Often sands A tract of land covered with sand, as a beach or desert.

A lens, or an optical instrument containing a lens or lenses, in particular a monocle or a magnifying lens.

The loose, granular, gritty particles in an hourglass.

A mirror

Sands Moments of allotted time or duration

Cover or enclose with glass

(Slang) Courage; stamina; perseverance

(especially in hunting) scan (one's surroundings) with binoculars

A light grayish brown to yellowish gray.

Hit (someone) in the face with a beer glass

To sprinkle or cover with or as if with sand.

Reflect as if in a mirror

To polish or scrape with sand or sandpaper.

Any of a large class of materials with highly variable mechanical and optical properties that solidify from the molten state without crystallization, are typically made by silicates fusing with boric oxide, aluminum oxide, or phosphorus pentoxide, are generally hard, brittle, and transparent or translucent, and are considered to be supercooled liquids rather than true solids.

To mix with sand.

A drinking vessel.

To fill up (a harbor) with sand.

A mirror.

(uncountable) Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.

A barometer.

A beach or other expanse of sand.

A window or windowpane.

Personal courage.

The series of transparent plastic sheets that are secured vertically above the boards in many ice rinks.

A particle from 62.5 microns to 2 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.

Glasses A pair of lenses mounted in a light frame, used to correct faulty vision or protect the eyes.

A light beige colour, like that of typical sand.

Often glasses A binocular or field glass.

A single grain of sand.

A device, such as a monocle or spyglass, containing a lens or lenses and used as an aid to vision.

A moment or interval of time; the term or extent of one's life (referring to the sand in an hourglass).

The quantity contained by a drinking vessel; a glassful.

(colloquial) A sandpiper.

Objects made of glass; glassware.

Of a light beige colour, like that of typical sand.

Made or consisting of glass.

(transitive) To abrade the surface of (something) with sand or sandpaper in order to smooth or clean it.

Fitted with panes of glass; glazed.

(transitive) To cover with sand.

To enclose or encase with glass.

To blot ink using sand.

To put into a glass container.

Fine particles of stone, esp. of siliceous stone, but not reduced to dust; comminuted stone in the form of loose grains, which are not coherent when wet.

To provide with glass or glass parts.

A single particle of such stone.

To make glassy; glaze.

The sand in the hourglass; hence, a moment or interval of time; the term or extent of one's life.

To see reflected, as in a mirror.

Tracts of land consisting of sand, like the deserts of Arabia and Africa; also, extensive tracts of sand exposed by the ebb of the tide.

To reflect.

Courage; pluck; grit.

To scan (a tract of land or forest, for example) with an optical instrument.

To sprinkle or cover with sand.

To become glassy.

To drive upon the sand.

To use an optical instrument, as in looking for game.

To bury (oysters) beneath drifting sand or mud.

An amorphous solid, often transparent substance, usually made by melting silica sand with various additives (for most purposes, a mixture of soda, potash and lime is added).

To mix with sand for purposes of fraud; as, to sand sugar.

Any amorphous solid (one without a regular crystal lattice).

A loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral

(countable) A vessel from which one drinks, especially one made of glass, plastic, or similar translucent or semi-translucent material.

French writer known for works concerning women's rights and independence (1804-1876)

(metonymically) The quantity of liquid contained in such a vessel.

Fortitude and determination;

(uncountable) Glassware.

Rub with sandpaper;

A mirror.

A magnifying glass or telescope.

(sport) A barrier made of solid, transparent material.

The backboard.

(ice hockey) The clear, protective screen surrounding a hockey rink.

A barometer.

Transparent or translucent.

(obsolete) An hourglass.

Lenses, considered collectively.

A pane of glass; a window (especially of a coach or similar vehicle).

(transitive) To fit with glass; to glaze.

(transitive) To enclose in glass.

(transitive) fibreglass To fit, cover, fill, or build, with fibreglass-reinforced resin composite (fiberglass).

To strike (someone), particularly in the face, with a drinking glass with the intent of causing injury.

To bombard an area with such intensity (nuclear bomb, fusion bomb, etc) as to melt the landscape into glass.

(transitive) To view through an optical instrument such as binoculars.

(transitive) To smooth or polish (leather, etc.), by rubbing it with a glass burnisher.

To reflect; to mirror.

(transitive) To make glassy.

(intransitive) To become glassy.

A hard, brittle, translucent, and commonly transparent substance, white or colored, having a conchoidal fracture, and made by fusing together sand or silica with lime, potash, soda, or lead oxide. It is used for window panes and mirrors, for articles of table and culinary use, for lenses, and various articles of ornament.

Any substance having a peculiar glassy appearance, and a conchoidal fracture, and usually produced by fusion.

Anything made of glass.

A drinking vessel; a tumbler; a goblet; hence, the contents of such a vessel; especially; spirituous liquors; as, he took a glass at dinner.

To reflect, as in a mirror; to mirror; - used reflexively.

To case in glass.

To cover or furnish with glass; to glaze.

To smooth or polish anything, as leater, by rubbing it with a glass burnisher.

A brittle transparent solid with irregular atomic structure

A glass container for holding liquids while drinking

The quantity a glass will hold

A small refracting telescope

Amphetamine used in the form of a crystalline hydrochloride; used as a stimulant to the nervous system and as an appetite suppressant

A mirror; usually a ladies' dressing mirror

Glassware collectively;

Furnish with glass;

Scan (game in the forest) with binoculars

Enclose with glass;

Put in a glass container

Become glassy or take on a glass-like appearance;