Roman Concrete

Info: nice!

Comments: I should know better than to read them.

Article: C to the writer, editors, and proofreaders (if any):
• "2,000-year-old (and sometimes older) headwaters constructed out of Roman concrete": "the source of a stream —usually used in plural"
• "Pozzuoili Bay": Bay of Pozzuoli
• "can we translate the priciniples from ancient Rome to the production of modern concrete?"
• "Of course, if you are no fan of concrete architecture, you’re out of luck. It could be with us for a few millenia more.":

A Spell for the Millennium
aka Millennium: The Dictionary Entry

ttto Jingle Bells
©thnidu 2004

Double-L, double-N, just ten letters long.

That's how to spell "millennium", remember by this song.

"One thousand years exactly", the meaning of the word:

Year One began the first one, and Two-thousand-one the third.

Well, we've known how they made their concrete for ages, now we know why...

What I like about Roman concrete is that not only was it stronger, it was more durable. Isn't it still going strong after 2000+ years? Whereas our modern concrete starts crumbling in about 10 or 20 years...

Yes, indeed. Did you follow the link and read the article?

"…
Over the past decade, researchers from Italy and the U.S. have analyzed 11 harbors in the Mediterranean basin where, in many cases, 2,000-year-old (and sometimes older) headwaters constructed out of Roman concrete stand perfectly intact despite constant pounding by the sea.

The most common blend of modern concrete, known as Portland cement, a formulation in use for nearly 200 years, can’t come close to matching that track record, says Marie Jackson, a research engineer at the University of California at Berkeley who was part of the Roman concrete research team."

Fascinating story. I've sent the link to my former boss at the Arkansas Highway Department, requesting HE send it to someone in Materials Research. Arkansas bridge footings are in fresh water rather than salt, but they DO use a lot of road-salt in the winters because of ice storms.