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It's official
- Torquay's beaches are the best in Britain, or at least they are
when it comes to making sandcastles.
Apparently, the quality of your sandcastle is all down to the mixture
of sand and water.
And, according to a team of scientists, the mix at Torre Abbey Sands
is just about perfect, which makes Torquay King of the Sandcastle!
The special formula, just so as you know is: OW0.125 x s.
The beach boffins from Bournemouth University used this formula to
judge which place had the best sand for making sandcastles.
For the likes of you and me, the formula equates to one part water
to eight parts of sand.
Nice work if you can get it...
To reach these conclusions, the scientists had to travel around the
coast, collecting samples of sand from beaches using buckets and spades.
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| Torre
Abbey Sands, Torquay |
The
scientists also took into account factors including grain-size distribution
analysis, load-bearing capacity of the sand, and visual aesthetics.
The
research was led by Professor Matthew Bennett.
He said:"The study found that Britain has a wealth of beaches
that are extremely well suited to sandcastle building, so if people
get the water-sand combination right they will have hours of fun.
"The
strength of a sandcastle depends on how the grains interact, so
the correct mix of sediment and water is crucial to any castle that
is being built.
"Too
much water and the sand will liquefy. Too little water and the sand
won't bind."
He
said Torquay came out on top due to its extremely fine-grained sand,
which also resulted in the beach having the sand with the greatest
cohesive powers.
And you can't argue with that, can you...
The Top Ten Sandcastle Beaches:
Torquay, Devon
Bridlington, Yorkshire
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Bournemouth, Dorset
Tenby, Pembrokeshire
Blackpool, Lancashire
Eastbourne, East Sussex
Herne Bay, Kent
Newquay, Cornwall
Rhyl, North Wales
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