Concrete: The Foundation of the Modern World

Recently, I have been reading Stuff Matters, by Mark Miodownik. When he mentioned the process of using concrete to create massive skyscrapers, I began to think about how vital concrete is to the structure of our cities: it is the building block of the modern world. Its vast array of properties including strength and inexpensive production cost makes it one of the most common man-made materials in the world.

Concrete is a very strong material. Since it was initially mixed, it has been supporting massive structures that can last hundreds, possibly thousands of years. Most modern skyscrapers use concrete in one form or another to ensure structural integrity. Just like Miodownik mentioned in Stuff Matters, almost the entire structure of a skyscraper can be comprised of concrete. Concrete is still commonly used to support lighter loads as well (relatively speaking, of course). When my house was being built, I watched the construction workers pouring concrete as the foundation of the house that still stands strong today. However, no matter the strength of a material, if said material isn’t easy to manufacture, then it will never see widespread use.

Foundation of our House

Another appealing property of concrete is its price. Concrete is a relatively simple material to make (easy enough for anyone to be able to mix it), being comprised of only a few ingredients: water, aggregate (generally something in the form of sand, gravel, or other types of crushed stone), and cement. Unlike many other materials, most of the ingredients can be easily found in the ground. Many civil engineers during the industrial revolution found concrete to be one of the best construction materials, leading to it being used in some way or another in almost every building in any given major American city.

I think that concrete is the perfect combination between low cost and high strength, making concrete “The Foundation of the Modern World”.