Construction:Making a sand bed is a

Construction:Making a sand bed is almost too easy. The most important part of the sand bed is, notsurprisingly, the sand. While earlier I referred to "mud" and now I refer to "sand," I amnot discussing two different materials. There is no scientific definition of "mud,"however, those of us befuddled folks who spend part of our life working with marinesediments have a naming scale for the parts of the continuum of particles ranging fromthe very big ("boulders" = particles over 25.6 cm, about 10 inches, diameter) to the verysmall ("clay" = particles less than 0.004 mm, about 0.00016 inches). Nowhere in this scaleis there a mention of that most desirable of substances, "mud." Generally, what asediment-studying scientist would refer to as fine or very fine sands with smidgen of silt,most normal folks call mud. These are sediments whose particles generally range fromabout 1/16th mm (0.063mm) to about 1/8th mm (0.125 mm).