Roman Concrete's Secrets Finally Revealed

Roman concrete has often been revered for its durability but why exactly is it so much better than modern concrete? It appears to have magical abilities that allow it to self-heal cracks, make it resistant to sea water and allow it to become stronger over time. A series of recent studies have shed light on this and revealed that Roman concrete's durability is connected with its ingredients and how the environment reacted to it over time.

Please consider supporting this channel through:

or CRYPTO Donations:
Bitcoin: bc1q5cctzkc9tt6hmqueddfk5dlvcpr6y45gx7td04
Ethereum: 0x2df869b96d4b42c461635B2955fAF72C79eA445D
Dogcoin: DRUEVXavwhbavuhgYJV2AXo8N6tC2zB5za

References:

[thatsnotoneofmeatsmanyuses]

Congratulations Gareth on getting a sponsor! I have greatly enjoyed your videos for over a year, and I hope your channel continues to have success.

[remkojerphanion]

We are so technologically advanced, that we can figure out what people already knew thousands of years ago. 🤔

[mikeharrington]

Gareth, you are the only guy I know who could get me to sit through a lecture on concrete lol 😄

[JoeSmith-cywj]

There is at least one modern factor that is overlooked here.
It is not corrosion, but corruption. I know that modern asphalt is designed to fail. So with concrete. Job security is the name of the modern game.

[ozradek]

Topics like this are of much greater interest to me than the holes in mainstream physics. Thank you.

[makespace]

best explanation of Roman concrete that I've come across.

[nobigbang]

Great to hear about your channel having a sponsor; hope I'll see more subs as this channel deserves.

[franktriggs]

The Geopolymer Institute reverse engineered the Egyptian and South American artificial stone also. The pillow like walls in Puma Punku and the H shaped blocks were made from artificial stone. As well as many limestone blocks on the great pyramid. Apparently the magnetic field is preserved when the stone is formed, testing on many stones on the great pyramid have shown that they're all oriented to the cardinal points. Impossible to do unless they were formed in place.

[Canada-gsjc]

I build pools so I’m always around concrete. Fascinating video.

[laurean]

To conclude romans had:
-little frost
-structures which in stead of strong concrete and rebar use arches and huge amounts of weaker material to reduce tensile stress and corresponding cracks
- months to wait for the concrete to harden
- buildings which if they collapse, do so without warning

[oscarman]

Perhaps the key here is architectural beauty rather than skyward monstrosities. A project test would be to build coastal accommodation that would not be blown away by the big bad wolf every hurricane season.

[AshersAesera]

That is fascinating. Congratulations on your sponsor! While I enjoy what you do, I didn't expect you to get sponsored by anyone exactly because your content goes against the grain most of the time.

[WinrichNaujoks]

To me the biggest mystery is how such an amzingly advanced and useful technology was completely forgotten again for 1900 years.

[TheBelrick]

Veritasium recently did a video dedicated to dismissing Roman concrete (the guy is enormously popular which means factually, he has sold his soul). His argument boils down to, Roman concrete lasting thousands of years is not superior to modern portland concrete expected to last less than one hundred years because reasons.
he even stated that Roman concrete traits stemmed from poor mixing of the materials!

[madincraft]

Fascinating.
Reminds me of the work Land of Chem is doing in Egypt with the pyramids

[baldr]

good video, would like more stuff like this.

[gregsmith]

Great video, but I still don't know why we can't make better concrete.

[Velereonics]

Patreon really didn't think enough about what benefactors would be called when thanked by their beneficiaries.

[chaorrottai]

Okay, this is one of my historical anger subjects: The recipe, logic and reasoning has been published and available for over 1000 years and taught in universities around the world. It's in "De Archetectura" by Vitruvius.

He tells you exactly how to mix it and why and how to make different mixes for different purposes and dependant on whether or not there is sea exposure.

Roman concrete, to me, is the perfect example of how we disrespect ancient passed-down knowledge because we think we're so smart and we know everything.

[johannjohann]

There's no comparison. There's Roman roads still fine for use today 2, 000 years later. I got grass growing up between the cracks on my street, and its a myriad of "patched potholes". Where the patches last 6 months maybe before needing to repair the potholes again. No wonder everyone is buying SUV's, you need them on American roads! Hell, dirt or sand would probably be better than American concrete roads. Or is it only in Ohio the roads suck?