system
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human
[Spider-man] What is the extent of Sandman's powers? (Specifics in comments)

For example, how fine is his control over himself? His brain is made of sand: could he alter his own neural pathways to increase his intelligence? 


If he got sand into someone else's mind via the nose, could he use it to control them?


Does it have to be sand? Sand is just a collection of random bits of stone and animal bone. Could he influence animals through their bones? Can he tunnel through stone by breaking it into "sand"?

He's got to have some sort of telekinetic power to control his sand constructs with them being across the room and he can blast sand into people's faces...Could he use this power to throw a boulder? A person?


How exactly does this dude's power work?
gpt
> His brain is made of sand: could he alter his own neural pathways to increase his intelligence?

No. All his powers' energy is concerned with the shaping of his sand form. At that point there is no brain, no individual organs, and no neurons to alter anyways- it's all sand. 

>If he got sand into someone else's mind via the nose, could he use it to control them?

No. he controls the sand his body consists of, nothing else.

> Does it have to be sand?

Yes.

> Sand is just a collection of random bits of stone and animal bone.

Sand is mostly silica and quartz. It is that substance along with other dirt or earthen particles that are intermingled which he controls.

>  Could he influence animals through their bones?

No.

> Can he tunnel through stone by breaking it into "sand"?

He can use the sand he controls to sandblast through substances, but he cannot convert any substance into sand.

> He's got to have some sort of telekinetic power to control his sand constructs with them being across the room and he can blast sand into people's faces...

It's not telekinetic, it's an earth manipulation power. It works only on earth and only on earth of a certain size and consistency.

He does not make sand constructs that are not of his own body mass, which can be considerable and rather spread out. 

> Could he use this power to throw a boulder? A person?

No, not unless they're made of sand, or inside or part of his body mass.

> How exactly does this dude's power work?

It's actually pretty simple. he turns into sand, can control his mass by absorbing more sand, and can reshape that sand in any way that sand can normally be manipulated. There is secretly one grain of sand, however, that contains his astral essence, and if that grain is removed from the rest of the mass, all of it will be removed from his control.