Wind and water wash away sand sometimes. This is called erosion, which is a destructive force. It destroys the beach. It carries away sand and leaves roots of plants exposed.

Natural erosion happens slowly, over a long period of time, so we don't always notice it. We should take a careful look and when the erosion gets too bad, we need to take action to help.

Other erosion happens quickly, like when a house is built on the beach. Sand has to be moved to make room for the house and its foundation. This affects the beach itself. When humans move sand that has washed up on the beach, we need to take action and help protect the shoreline from further erosion or other destructive forces.

Picture from http://commons.wikimedia.org.

Destructive forces can be natural, like when hurricanes move a lot of the sand quickly, or they can be man-made, like when humans pollute or build houses on the beach. Many times when houses are built on the beach, trash from the construction gets into the ocean. This can harm the animals and plants that live there. It destroys them. Sometimes big oil tankers spill their oil into the ocean. This harms everything in it and everything on the beaches.

Picture by Kiara

If you want to learn more about destructive forces, work through the activities on this site:  http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/Forces/index.htm.

Picture from http://commons.wikimedia.org.