Mortar: How Building Blocks Are Held Together
%2Favatars%2FBUoTZ6lM79yi.jpg&w=96&q=75)
/2023/02/25/image/jpeg/jcCDNA6gIS7HajXpspba80jRw2RJJz5AGWHiyY11.jpg "The science behind the propellers moving the world’s largest ships")
/2023/02/19/image/jpeg/G4Kjw5BkCROdRTaxjw70IN0O0koHutnju4kOJsM1.jpg "The world's tiniest 3D printer is smaller than a match")
/2023/09/27/image/jpeg/NkLowKFkYRa5HSpVpzAqp8LxzcqazLWg5FPsmprr.jpg "How this Chinese hypersonic fleet killer will counter U.S. Navy")
/2023/09/26/image/jpeg/zHjalQG1HPbbeDvmS7EoO2EavIo4eaQxvwe5LgUD.jpg "Why we put wind turbines underwater")
/2023/09/25/image/jpeg/QrGYVahotQMvit1WXPMwhWH2HcKqtALSZo6UJyXS.jpg "How Will M10 Booker make The U.S. Army Unstoppable")
/2023/09/24/image/jpeg/KzrjnGeg73nBp79gp6uG4mGSP6z49OiIU7hLlAlx.jpg "Should police have marijuana tests?")
/2023/09/23/image/jpeg/Kap6NAa8IoTyQmZQEwB4waL2MWykBpyJc9piLpRK.jpg "The genius engineering behind 3D-printed rockets")
/2023/09/22/image/png/XFtYdTc2b3TtGseTakit2zAk7zByRIYyUKGewjOl.png "Small robot that can reforest the whole planet")
/2023/09/21/image/jpeg/CBVh8844CyZW0BUmphFlksoDPFxyFFKSmNCRoJFa.jpg "Motagua River: The most trashed river on earth")
/2023/09/20/image/jpeg/fpEIKq8CApvDrs3NDGbRHy8i9cNeVPW2x22WkG7e.jpg "Why China and Russia can not match USS Gerald R. Ford")
If the video player is not working, you can click on this alternative video link.
In all brick walls, you can find a whitish paste in between the building blocks. Have you ever wondered what this paste is, how it came to be and what purpose it serves today?
This paste is called mortar, it is the glue that holds building blocks together and it dates all the way back to Babylonian times. During those days, it was made of mud and clay as Babylonian constructions used baked bricks and lime or pitch mortars.
Lime mortar eventually evolved into gypsum mortar. Unlike the lime mortar used by the Babylonians, gypsum mortar required a lower firing temperature making it the mortar of choice in the Egyptian pyramids and other constructions.
Next, we head to Greece where pozzolanic mortar was introduced all the way back in 500 BCE. Pozzolanic mortar is a lime-based mortar with an additive of volcanic ash that allows it to be hardened underwater.
What came after pozzolanic mortar? How was each mortar type made and used? And how did we get to today's super-efficient mortars? We answer all these questions and more in this video.
SHOW COMMENT (1)
/2023/09/27/image/jpeg/6fcj2SNVuMghAyhAMBn24Zj6pMzkNlckLqB1KEV6.jpg "Giant Magellan Telescope's last mirror production underway")
/2023/08/03/image/jpeg/a4peRyX4ysBOqbw4BbDHzMCIbTjXOWejwu83UrQp.jpg "You can hear silence, claim researchers, settling an old debate")
/2023/09/27/image/jpeg/oOwQ2G6YcZaRWCbmOZAVQrmrJFo7Z8sNE0BWsYFO.jpg "NASA's Chandra gives new insights into 1840s Great Eruption")
/2023/09/27/image/jpeg/no0gJDWThdlkivoudV76TMKCcozdqQugoHeNp5RV.jpg "How ant brains inspire robots find their way in farmlands")
/2023/08/07/image/jpeg/Ud2zDGb2iGOiBAo4pvLO543XFvNGkPlUEZCF7qSY.jpg "Why do matter and the universe exist at all? Scientists get closer to the answer")
/2023/09/27/image/jpeg/NFaM0tDwG2mZ166yLop9g0QMdp6RifdfMhkSwWgs.jpg "Sam Altman and Jony Ive in conversation to build AI hardware")
/2023/09/04/image/jpeg/crP5g4SmwhoGFiXWL8CXe4FGQ2U9ee2fIMXCpg8d.jpg "The real impact of blue light on eye health and sleep")
/2023/09/27/image/jpeg/3Zhlt0FlCogoskmfp5Hx9OXR3TJmXNBsB2bHkN12.jpg "New study finds Seattle under risk of enhanced earthquakes")
/2023/09/21/image/jpeg/KSYsTrNRY77vCRGQzEDgxQo3CmUW36h1aX2tqBPX.jpg "7 of the maddest ship designs ever conceived by engineers")
/2023/08/23/image/jpeg/ivMD3RG1VXLwimcDFkTj4viol8hAbysi9HLwfOik.jpg "Is medical research entering a new era of fertility treatments?")