Below are a few unknown facts about concrete and its many useful applications taken from the Pacific Southwest Concrete Alliance at (www.concreteresources.net) Enjoy!
What is the Most Consumed Substance on the Planet?
Concrete, produced at an estimated rate of 7 billion cubic yards per year, is the second most widely consumed substance on Earth, after Water.
Cement Usage: The United States uses 891 lbs. of cement per person each year. California uses 860 lbs and Nevada uses 2,170 lbs. per person each year! Source: US Census 2000 & USGS
Mineral Survey
Liquid Stone Today, many innovative architects are using concrete in new and often surprising ways, creating buildings that defy the stereotypes of the material. Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete will survey cutting-edge architecture in which the use of concrete is an essential aspect of the design. The exhibition will demonstrate that architects are using concrete to achieve incredibly varied - sometimes even diametrically opposite - aesthetic objectives.
Liquid Stone Today, many innovative architects are using concrete in new and often surprising ways, creating buildings that defy the stereotypes of the material. Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete will survey cutting-edge architecture in which the use of concrete is an essential aspect of the design. The exhibition will demonstrate that architects are using concrete to achieve incredibly varied - sometimes even diametrically opposite - aesthetic objectives.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom : The rutted safari road in the Kilamanjaro Safari Experience also is part of the landscape design. Imagineering’s design team matched concrete with the surrounding soil, then rolled tires through it, and tossed stones, dirt and twigs into it to create an appropriately bumpy experience duplicating a remote African road.
Hoover Dam :Hoover Dam, the largest single public works project in the history of the United States, contains 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete, which is enough to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York. The dam face was used in an amazing stunt for Roland Emerich's "Universal Soldier" and has been seen in such films as "Viva Las Vegas" and "Fools Rush In."
World’s Tallest Building: Two major high-rises in Asia are the 1371 ft Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, China, and the 1378 ft twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. These monumental towers use composite structural systems, combining vertical components such as cores, columns, and shear walls of concrete that have strengths of up to 11,600 psi (80 MPa) with structural steel horizontal members to resist lateral and vertical forces.
World’s Longest Cable Stayed Concrete Bridge: The Dames Point Bridge spans the St. Johns River northeast of downtown Jacksonville, Florida. Two miles long, and 175 feet above the main channel of the river, the central span of the bridge is 1300 feet between the two towers which are 471 feet above the waterline at the top. Opened to traffic in 1989, it is a premier example of the beautiful simplicity of the cable-stayed bridge.
Concrete vs. Asphalt
Sixty percent of the 47,744 mile U.S. Interstate Highway System was built of concrete. Concrete was selected because of its superior durability, safety, higher reflection of light at night, and greater traction.
**Concrete Pavement consistently serves 20-30 years without needing major repair, while asphalt generally lasts only 8-12 years before resurfacing, or significant repairs are required.
**Concrete naturally can support the heaviest loads, such as truck traffic and increasingly larger vehicles like jumbo-jets.
**There is less deformation with concrete as compared to asphalt and although the initial cost of concrete can be higher than asphalt, concrete usually has a useful life that is twice as long as asphalt.
**Because of concrete's light color, concrete reflects from 33 to 50 percent more light than asphalt. **By using more heat-reflecting concrete instead of asphalt, Atlanta officials lowered their average city temperature by six degrees!
**A ten year survey conducted in the mid-1980's of 2,000 miles of municipal streets in Kansas revealed that asphalt pavement was nine times more expensive to maintain than concrete.
America's first concrete street, built in 1891 in Bellefontaine, Ohio, is still in service today!
If America's 47,744 miles of Interstate Highways were paved with concrete, 11,000,000 gallons of fuel would be saved EACH DAY!
300 million Americans need 11.2 tons of aggregate per year (29 March 2007)
(Denver, Colorado) -- Maintaining the American standard of living required 7.1 billion tons of rocks and minerals last year to make the things we use and depend upon every day, says Nelson Fugate, President of the Denver based Mineral Information Institute (MII).“Every year, nearly 48,000 pounds of new minerals must be provided for every person in the United States to make the products we buy and the various things we use,” says Fugate, “and with 300 million people in the U.S. expecting to live comfortably and affordably, mining has to occur somewhere.”Each year the Institute calculates the annual and lifetime consumption of mineral and energy resources from information provided by the U.S. Geological Survey and other sources to show the dependence that Americans have on the mining industry.The Institute claims we use minerals in almost everything we do. There are 125 million houses in the U.S. that require heating, cooling, and lighting, and two million new housing units are built every year and each needs a quarter million pounds of minerals and metals.The luxury and necessity to travel to our jobs, to school, and numerous other reasons means each of us uses a share of the 4 million miles of roads that need to be built and maintained, along with the 237 million motor vehicles that travel on those roads, and contributes to our consumption of oil that averages 3 gallons per capita per day.On an annual basis every person in the USA requires at least:
6.32 tons of Crushed Stone (12,464 lbs)
4.86 tons of Sand & Gravel (9,718 lbs)
1/2 ton of Cement (965 lbs) “We all use minerals, every day,” says Fugate, “and they have to come from somewhere. Every 5th Grade student in America hears about the Law of Conservation of Energy and Matter which states that they cannot be created or destroyed. This means that everything is made from something and that something has to come from our natural resources, most of it from mining.”
At Camosse Masonry Supply, we offer several kinds of bagged concrete mixes. For more information on how to apply concrete in your next project, or to order material, give us a call or stop into one of our two store locations:
Camosse Masonry Supply Charlton
23 Trolley Crossing Road
Charlton, MA
(508) 248-4044 ask for Jay
or
Camosse Masonry Supply Worcester
61 Southwest Cutoff
Worcester, MA
(508)755-6193 ask for Chris
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