Imagine, if you will, a box full of very heavy ping pong balls. The balls in the box have some sort of ‘structure’, they rest in each other in a stable position, and they aren’t constantly moving. This is dry sand.
Now imagine pouring water in to the box. It’ll flow between the cracks and perhaps change the structure a little, but fundamentally it can still be classified as a solid thing.
Now, if I tip the box, the balls begin to move. Normally,if there was no water, they’d settle relatively quickly. But because of the water, which flows but also acts as a lubricant, the balls find it harder to be stable and wind up “flowing”.
Replace ‘ping pong balls’ with ‘grains of sand’, and you have your simple explanation.
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