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Self-Healing Concrete: What Ancient Roman Concrete Can Teach Us
Hackaday ^ | April 3, 2023 | Maya Posch

Posted on 04/09/2023 11:30:54 AM PDT by Texas Fossil

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To: HartleyMBaldwin
Did the Roman concrete makers do this on purpose, or was it a fortunate result of imperfect manufacturing methods? it’s remarkable either way.

I've always admired Roman engineering, but there is simply no way any craftsman of the time would know how his work would withstand the millennia. Nor could he have relied upon the examples of deeper antiquity, as there was no communication of information from his occupational predecessors. There is a type of survivor bias with which we moderns must contend when evaluating what remains of a (previous) variated subject of study. Structures which remain are remarkable for having survived, while those which did not last are somehow NOT remarkable and not held as evidentiary.

41 posted on 04/09/2023 2:14:59 PM PDT by Brass Lamp
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To: Texas Fossil

Earlier this year I was in the keys and did the pigeon key tour at the old 7 mile bridge. They said the concrete used on the old bridge will out last the concrete used on the new bridge. That concret recipe from germany for the old bridge could stand up to the salt water but the recipe was lost. They said the old bridge will still be standing when the the new bridge will need to be replaced. Cool stuff.


42 posted on 04/09/2023 2:25:03 PM PDT by VastRWCon (Fake News")
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To: Brass Lamp

Exactly so. The stuff that wasn’t extraordinarily good is long gone. That’s exactly why I tend to question the notion that the ancients knew so much and could do so many things better than we can now. They got lucky sometimes, just like people in every era, and the rest of their works went to ruin.


43 posted on 04/09/2023 2:32:39 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: metmom

1900 years is a long time. What happened to all of the other Roman concrete?


44 posted on 04/09/2023 2:38:08 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: metmom

In ancient times, those who experimented and generally followed their version of the scientific method, tended to keep their research to themselves, and not proclaim it to the Unwashed much less to other possibly competing experimenters. It is disclosure that is a modern invention.


45 posted on 04/09/2023 2:43:06 PM PDT by Bethaneidh
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To: pepsi_junkie

Exactly...


46 posted on 04/09/2023 2:47:24 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs are called man's best friend. Moslems hate dogs. Add it up..)
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To: fr_freak

I would be open to the idea that some fairly advanced civilizations did exist before the last ice age, and what we see now is a human resurgence after the glaciers receded.
But nobody is flying UFOs out there... nobody.


47 posted on 04/09/2023 2:50:48 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs are called man's best friend. Moslems hate dogs. Add it up..)
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To: Zeneta

thanks great real life recounting....my father was a concrete contractor and I helped him on his jobs many times. That was enough to scare me off wanting to do that in the building trades.


48 posted on 04/09/2023 2:59:36 PM PDT by supremedoctrine (a)
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To: Zeneta

thanks great real life recounting....my father was a concrete contractor and I helped him on his jobs many times. That was enough to scare me off wanting to do that in the building trades.


49 posted on 04/09/2023 2:59:46 PM PDT by supremedoctrine (a)
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To: Zeneta

I did a few years doing aluminum pin & wedge basement forms and concrete. Hard work. Them forms were heavy 4 foot by 8 foot sections.


50 posted on 04/09/2023 3:10:25 PM PDT by wgmalabama (Censored!)
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To: Texas Fossil

We build things to sell, not to last.


51 posted on 04/09/2023 3:12:27 PM PDT by cp124 (80% of everything is fake or a lie.)
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To: Brass Lamp

The Antikythera mechanism ( / ˌæntɪkɪˈθɪərə / AN-tih-kih-THEER-ə) is an Ancient Greek hand-powered orrery, described as the oldest known example of an analogue computer [1] [2] [3] used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses decades in advance.

Explain that anyone


52 posted on 04/09/2023 4:49:22 PM PDT by TStro (Better to die on your feet than live on your knees)
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To: Texas Fossil

Yes. Gifts are given......................

Gee, Tex, I thought they were gifted.


53 posted on 04/09/2023 5:08:46 PM PDT by Lion Den Dan ( )
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To: Texas Fossil
The rest of the keyword, sorted:

54 posted on 04/09/2023 5:10:47 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpers are Republicans the same way Liz Cheney is a Republican.)
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To: metmom

They were as modern then as we are today, but without refrigeration or air conditioning. Imagine.


55 posted on 04/09/2023 5:27:17 PM PDT by Captain Jack Aubrey (There's not a moment to lose.)
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To: alternatives?

You are aware that the Roman Empire that “fell” was universally Christian?


56 posted on 04/09/2023 6:27:19 PM PDT by Romulus
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To: pepsi_junkie
I think the ones who insult them the most are the archeaologists who insist that they worked solely with sticks and stone chisels to carve out giant granite obelisks and things of the sort.

I agree. Too many sophisticated tool marks left behind on ancient artifacts. And Egyptian archaeologists that will destroy or hide artifacts and tools that predate Egyptian peoples, that show the Egyptians came upon the artifacts later and their culture were inferior in regards to building. Newer construction was inferior, ancient construction can't be duplicated.

Tool marks show signs of lasers, computer-alignment, diamond drills etc. I believe a cataclysm many thousands of years ago happened world-wide that wiped out knowledge and talented artisans, except for monolithic builds such as the pyramids etc.

57 posted on 04/09/2023 7:15:42 PM PDT by roadcat
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To: metmom

Dump Truck Help 😁
https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/134/666/805/playable/526cde4119f97597.mp4


58 posted on 04/09/2023 7:22:39 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: Romulus

Like our last congress was 88% “Christian”?


59 posted on 04/09/2023 7:24:38 PM PDT by alternatives?
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To: spel_grammer_an_punct_polise

#20 they had to have cooling pipes inserted to keep the concrete from cracking plus all them bodies are still encased.... : )


60 posted on 04/09/2023 7:34:37 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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