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MIT, Harvard, Italian, and Swiss scientists re-discover why Roman concrete structures last millennia while modern concrete doesn’t
American Thinker ^ | 01/10/2023 | Thomas Lifson

Posted on 01/10/2023 7:51:44 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Visiting the Pantheon, one of Rome’s premier tourist sites, it’s hard not be humbled by the knowledge that this building has lasted 1900 years and still stands as the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome, while modern concrete structures deteriorate. Take a look at the magnificence of the Pantheon.

Photo credit:  CC BY-SA 4.0 license

Photo credit: Macrons CC BY-SA 4.0 license

Photo credit: Anthony Majanlahti CC BY 2.0 license

The Romans’ concrete technology was lost for almost a millennium as the Dark Ages unfolded, and Europe regressed technologically and economically.  The discovery of Roman manuscripts on making concrete in 1414 sparked gradual reintroduction of concrete as a building material, eventually including the use of reinforcing materials like iron bars that enabled feats that the Romans could not accomplish.

Yet for all our scientific and technical sophistication, Roman concrete resisted cracking and eventually crumbling far better than ours.

Now, as MIT News reports, scientists from MIT, Harvard, and 2 European research institutes have discovered the secret to Rome’s concrete recipe. We may finally be ending the Dark Ages for concrete. David L. Chandler writes:

The findings are published today in the journal Science Advances, in a paper by MIT professor of civil and environmental engineering Admir Masic, former doctoral student Linda Seymour ’14, PhD ’21, and four others.

The Romans used:

…volcanic ash from the area of Pozzuoli, on the Bay of Naples. This specific kind of ash was even shipped all across the vast Roman empire to be used in construction, and was described as a key ingredient for concrete in accounts by architects and historians at the time.

But moderns disregarded the presence in Roman concrete of:


(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; History; Society
KEYWORDS: alreadyposted; concrete; godsgravesglyphs; materials; pantheon; pozzolana; pozzolano; romanconcrete; romanempire; romans
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…white chunks, often referred to as “lime clasts,” [which] originate from lime, another key component of the ancient concrete mix. “Ever since I first began working with ancient Roman concrete, I’ve always been fascinated by these features,” says Masic. “These are not found in modern concrete formulations, so why are they present in these ancient materials?”

If anything, the lime clasts were attributed to low quality, perhaps sloppy mixing practices, but they turned out to be the key to durability. Using quicklime a more reactive form of lime, the Romans reached high temperatures while mixing the concrete:

1 posted on 01/10/2023 7:51:45 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

2 posted on 01/10/2023 7:56:03 AM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: SeekAndFind

They just don’t make things like they used to…Pantheons included.


3 posted on 01/10/2023 8:02:58 AM PST by Golden Eagle (The LGBT indoctrination agenda is designed to outlaw the Bible, and anyone who follows it.)
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To: Golden Eagle

RE: They just don’t make things like they used to

You can say that again. The Chinese Pagodas, Palaces and Temples have lasted for thousands of years. while many of their modern fabricated buildings collapse uner their own weight.


4 posted on 01/10/2023 8:05:23 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

LOL so true!


5 posted on 01/10/2023 8:09:49 AM PST by Golden Eagle (The LGBT indoctrination agenda is designed to outlaw the Bible, and anyone who follows it.)
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To: Golden Eagle

Sort of like what the libs have done to nuclear energy in the past decades. The world had it so good in the 70s and 80s with nuclear. Now look at the mess.


6 posted on 01/10/2023 8:11:52 AM PST by George from New England
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To: SeekAndFind

Almost everything built today is architectural garbage.
Great article but who would want a mall or a Walmart to last for centuries?

Todays political and social leaders are more intent on tearing down than building or preserving things of worth.


7 posted on 01/10/2023 8:12:46 AM PST by jcon40 (Machinery is only as good as its design and quality of parts. A citizen is only as good as...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Modern construction wants ‘it’ to fall apart — more work for their children and grandchildren as long as they are still union.


8 posted on 01/10/2023 8:13:43 AM PST by George from New England
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Population keeps expanding so need to have things for them
to do. Tare down, rebuild helps keep them employed.


9 posted on 01/10/2023 8:17:22 AM PST by deport (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_electiYou)
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To: jcon40
Todays political and social leaders are more intent on tearing down than building or preserving things of worth.

You have to make or build things of worth, to bother to build something to preserve them.
10 posted on 01/10/2023 8:21:33 AM PST by larrytown (A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. Then they graduate...)
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To: SeekAndFind

I recall hearing about this quite a long time ago.


11 posted on 01/10/2023 8:22:15 AM PST by rdcbn1
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To: George from New England

This is exactly correct. The quality of construction in this country is an international joke. Well at least for houses.

I’ve heard people from other countries say American homes are called “Canadian houses”, “paper houses” or “stick houses” depending on the country they’re from.

On the flip side why make something last if the neighborhood will invariably be a ghetto in a few decades after it’s built?


12 posted on 01/10/2023 8:25:25 AM PST by packagingguy
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To: SeekAndFind

So they have discovered NOTHING. The use of pozzolan in concrete as a beneficial additive has been know for ages in the modern era.

Pozzolan / fly ash have been used in oilfield cements before began in the business nearly 50 years ago. It both decreases the permeability and somewhat lightens the mix. The benefit is dependent on the grind, the finer the better. Workability is also improved.

The only “discovery” in this is for Masic. Harvard tends to be a little slow on the uptake I guess.


13 posted on 01/10/2023 8:29:07 AM PST by Sequoyah101 (Procrastination is just a form of defiance.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Back then, of “you” failed, you, your wife, your family, and animals, were wiped off the face of the erf! A nice incentive!


14 posted on 01/10/2023 8:34:58 AM PST by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: packagingguy

Not just quality but style.

I was watching Jack Ryan online. They were in multiple European cities.
All of the places had wonderful, and unique, architecture.


15 posted on 01/10/2023 8:35:07 AM PST by EEGator
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To: SeekAndFind

Non-Union Labor?.................................


16 posted on 01/10/2023 8:36:50 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: SeekAndFind
Edit: cut reference to and picture of Nazi structure.

Found that at the end of the article. "Cancel culture" is insidious and evil.

17 posted on 01/10/2023 8:39:28 AM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: SeekAndFind

99% of FReepers lack even a basic understanding of concrete. Doesn’t stop them from displaying their ignorance, however.

The Romans lacked both the knowledge about reinforcing steel and the ability to economically produce and transport it. Without it, the only path available to building the Pantheon was to use a super concrete.

Getting engineering info from a political blog is a serious mistake. And celebrating high temp mixes ignores all the risks that come along with it. I’m sure almost nobody commenting has ever heard of a flash set.

Typical FReepers getting their typing practice in.


18 posted on 01/10/2023 8:41:28 AM PST by FirstFlaBn
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To: FirstFlaBn

You’re a dick. Congrats.


19 posted on 01/10/2023 8:43:37 AM PST by EEGator
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To: FirstFlaBn

our concrete formulas:
planned obsolescence.


20 posted on 01/10/2023 8:46:01 AM PST by MIA_eccl1212 (When the bad guys have leverage they use it)
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