Sand castle
A sand castle is a small replica of a castle made of sand . A small sandpit often encourages children to build a mountain of sand and transform it into a "castle".
General
In many German summer baths, beach guests often build a castle around their beach chair to demarcate their territory . This is mostly just an excavated sand wall, but often decorated with all sorts of flotsam . The custom goes back to the second half of the 19th century, when trips to the North and Baltic Seas were no longer the privilege of the upper class. As early as 1885 there were postcards on Sylt showing the beach of Westerland with numerous castles. The cultural historian Harald Kimpel describes the purpose of the building as “eliminating disreputable idleness” and counteracting the impression of laziness. This custom has declined sharply since the 1990s.
Construction and construction
The sand castles built by children are often referred to as Kleckerburg . Very moist sand is dripped onto the ground, so that several towers are created that are united to form a "castle". Due to the amount of moist sand required, they are typically built in close proximity to the water. A characteristic of Kleckerburgen is their short lifespan. Often they are destroyed again by their builder or by other people shortly after their construction. Otherwise, due to their low strength, they will become a victim of the waves or the wind . Typical of Kleckerburgen is the irregular shape with many bulges that are created by the flow of sand before it solidifies.
Decisive for the strength of a sand castle is the humidity of the sand when it is being built and the "graininess" of the material, as this granular material can only take on a reasonably solid form if it is mixed with liquid.
Sand art
Sand Art referred elaborate sand castles and large sand sculpture as commonly by adults on so-called Sand Art Festival (z. B. Sandsation ) are created.
While sand castles are usually built by children on the sandy beach while playing, the sand art works are often much larger. Mostly detailed images of real buildings or monuments or modern works of art are shown.
Exhibitions and competitions
From 2002 to 2007 the Sand World took place in Lübeck-Travemünde , an exhibition of sand castles in which well-known structures were recreated from specially prepared sand.
From 2003 to 2010 the international sand sculpture festival " Sandsation " took place in Berlin every summer .
There are also numerous competitions where sand sculptures are built.
On September 1, 2017, a sand castle 16.679 meters high was built in the Duisburg-Nord Landscape Park , which was entered as a world record in the Guinness Book of Records .
Controversy in Isle of Palms
After a police officer sprained his ankle while kicking a sandhole, the Isle of Palms , South Carolina , United States planned in 2008 to legally require sandcastle builders to guard their sandcastle and bullet them before leaving the site. Failure to do so could face fines between $ 128 and $ 500. However, there were controversial disputes with the tourism industry and those involved in the annual sand castle competition, which resulted in the law being revised.
Physics of strength
According to calculations by the University of Amsterdam, a sand castle with moist sand and a base radius of 20 cm to 2.50 m can be high.
For considerations on the cementing effect of the surface tension of the water, see angle of repose .
literature
- Harald Kimpel, Johanna Werckmeister: The beach castle: a silted up leisure time pleasure. Marburg: Jonas Verlag , 1995, ISBN 3-89445-186-6
- Lucinda Wierenga: Building sandcastles: with step-by-step instructions, tips and tricks for your works of art on the beach. Königswinter: Heel, 2006, (translated from English) ISBN 978-3-89880-566-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Lazing around instead of shoveling sand castles" ( Memento from August 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), NZ Netzeitung GmbH, August 16, 2008
- ^ Willy Volk: The World's Tallest Sandcastle and Other Sandsculpture Marvels. Gadling Travel Blog, June 11, 2007, accessed January 14, 2017 .
- ↑ http://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Hoechste-Sandburg-der-Welt-in-Duisburg-article20013507.html
- ↑ Crime scene sandy beach - digging prohibited (tagesschau.de archive) at Tagesschau
- ↑ Building sand castles at n-tv.de