Concrete: let’s build the world
The most comfortable and soothing place in the whole world is home. There are many synonyms for that including house, building, etc. Everywhere we go there are offices, houses, construction sites. We are turning our world into a jungle of concrete. Concrete builds a shelter over our heads. The early man used caves and holes in order to hide from drastic conditions.
As they advance, there was a need for houses or a man-made roof. That way construction came to the mind of early man. But there was a need for some adhesive material that can hold the room or a shack.
Concrete is a material that is used in the construction of buildings and structures. If it wasn’t for concrete then I guess we would still be living in some caves or dig holes. But everything finds its way.
Concrete is not a new word for us. It was with us since the dawn of civilization. In ancient times, people discovered construction and started it a long while ago. Egyptians, Romans, and Indians were one of the earliest ones to describe the world with their architecture. The ancient monuments and hierarchies are proof of the presence of concrete back then. Around 3000 BC Egyptians used the mixture of mud and straw as concrete. It was good until the came up with a better adhesive and cementing material obtained by burning gypsum.
It had proved to be a better substance in building structures. As humans made advancement and community grew, ancient Egyptians came up with a new and better bonding agent, calcined impure gypsum. Greeks and Romans were also enthusiastic about creating history with their structures. They used calcined limestone in their configurations.
But to aid some better results they added sand, crushed stone, lime, and water together with bricks and broken tiles. That was considered one of the world’s very first concrete. In 27 BC, Romans started building the Pantheon, one of their ancient temple. They were way ahead in the formation of structures. In 52 AD, Romans again gave the very first wonder of the world, the Colosseum. But by then they had excavated a better adherent material which was the mixture of volcanic ash, lime, sand, and water possessing superior strength and better durability. Some legends also say that Romans added blood, milk, and lard which is the abdominal fat of the pig, together to make better cementing stuff.
About the modern concrete, its basic constituents are cement, coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, and water mixed together to form a semi-solid product which after some time solidify and fixes the substances like brick, stones together. You must know the concrete grows stronger as it becomes older.
A British engineer named John Smeaton came up with the modern concrete which is still used in construction, in 1756. Making something that could hold things together was not easy but after various attempts, he created it by adding pebbles, mixing bricks, and hydraulic cement together. Cement became a very popular and demanding component of the construction industry.
A better and more advanced cement called Portland cement came up, which was discovered and patented by Joseph Aston in 1824. It changes the world of structures in a promising way. The importance of concrete is way greater like the whole London sewerage system was built by 2.7 million meter cube of excavated earth, 318 million bricks, and 670 thousand meter cube of concrete. From the beginning, it shaped our world into an arrangement. It came to human consciousness to make our world defining. The curiosity of humans takes us to another level in terms of everything. And to know your curiosity type click here.
