The secret of the resistance of Roman concrete finally lifted!

The secret of the resistance of Roman concrete has finally been revealed! For a long time, it was believed that this quality which allows, for example, the dome of the Pantheon in Rome (pictured above) to resist for nineteen centuries came from the addition of volcanic ash. Not at all. It was the researcher and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Admir Masic who discovered the pot of roses. To make their concrete, the Romans did not use slaked lime, but quicklime. Only then did they wet the mixture, raising the temperature to 80 degrees Celsius. During this hot mixing, calcium nanobubbles form in the concrete. When a fault appears, the water that infiltrates it dissolves the calcium trapped in the b…