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Sticky Rice Is the Key To Super Strong Mortar
lilbridge writes "For over 1,500 years the Chinese have been using sticky rice as an ingredient in mortar, which has resulted in super strong buildings, many of which are still standing after hundreds of years. Scientists have been studying the sticky rice and lime mortar to unlock the secrets of its strength, and have just determined the secret ingredient that makes the mortar more stable and stronger. The scientists have also concluded that this mixture is the most appropriate for restoration of ancient and historic buildings, which means it is probably also appropriate for new construction as well."
Based on experiences with my dishwasher, I can also predict that buildings made with oatmeal or cheese will also stand the test of time.
Many of which are still standing, 2000 years later.
I predict the common factor may be the concrete.
hth.
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I didn't know the critical ingredient was a mystery. Alton Brown from Good Eats explained the molecule quite well in the rice episode, and my immediate thought was "oh that must be why it was used in mortar for the Great Wall and such."
Ancient Chinese Secret
Er, do we have such an overabundance of rice that it can be pressed into use as a building material?
Proverbs 21:19
sounds like a job for the MythBusters!
So is this a good time to invest in California calrose growers?
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
Sticky rice keep those damn Mongorians from browing up my shitty wall!
In the US they don't even build homes with bricks. Almost all mew home constructions are wooden shacks.
Sticky rice is for sushi and sushi alone. If the demand for sticky rice goes up then the cost for already expensive sushi goes up and we can't have that.
We need the Shamwow Guy to do commercials comparing this to his caulk.
you'll shit bricks.
...provide this information to BP?
Rice...humm... are we talking about slash or dot on this site? You can tell when nerds get outside of their comfort zone in discussion...they will end up by talking about sex or food. I see the food comments above...
jsut athnoer menagiensls ltitle psrhae for you to dcoede. Why do we wtsae our tmie dnoig tihs?
This article is useless without a recipe!
Less water is available for the hydration reaction.
The water-to-cement ratio goes up.
Therefore the strength of the concrete/mortar goes up.
How MUCH sticky rice per how much lime, etc. Or how much purified additive? (Though adding cooked(?) rice, as the Chinese did, would probably end up inexpensive and may also add more strength as it collapses and forms voids, making a concrete foam structure.)
I was about to make a post complaining about the lack of useful information. But you beat me to it AND phrased it brilliantly. Kudos.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Beans should dramatically improve explosives.
why doesn't the rice part biodegrade ?
Europe would disagree with that statement...
The Binary Anti-Pattern [http://beyondboolean.blogspot.com/]
As soon as Monsanto works out how to create GMO corn that produces amylopectin, we'll be all set to use it in America!
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
According to the gas chromatograph, the secret ingredient in Chinese construction is... Love!? Who's been screwing with this thing?
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
What is the effective range, and what calibre projectiles does it fire?
Can it be equipped with smart munitions? I hear they have even developed anti-tank rounds for 81mm and 120mm mortars.
Would you really want it to last 2000 years?
Take Cumbernauld as an example. Very definitely not.
Which is another thing. Concrete doesn't have to be ugly. So WTF are so many modern concrete buildings so god damned ugly?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_concrete
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Mortar that's too strong is brittle, meaning it can easily crack. Rebar can rust and swell, breaking this brittle cement. The result is catastrophic. I learned this from a couple of masons who I was drinking with at a pub. They joke that because of some really bad decisions made by architects and structural engineers in the 1960s and 1970s, they have good job security. I had known from reading books on restoring historical masonry buildings (thanks Ian Cramb) that strong mortar such as portland cement and other more modern mixes are just too brittle to be used as mortar. Stones and bricks shift ever so slightly as they settle. This can cause cracks, large or small, in the brittle mortar, that wouldn't happen with a weak lime mortar. These cracks are the widened by water freezing and thawing, and sometimes plant life. But what my bar buddies told me is that what makes the problem even worse is the rebar used in concrete buildings until recently would slowly rust and swell, so the masonry would burst from the inside because it was so brittle. These mason fellows would chip out the remaining concrete or cement, clean and coat the rebar (but sometimes replacing it) with a protecting paint, and then re-apply cement or concrete. I've noticed this problem occuring in many places, such as subway stations and bridges in the Boston area. I have no reason to believe the problem is limited to this city.
Regarding Roman cements and concrete: pozzolana, otherwise known as hydraulic cement, was a mixture containing volcanic ash, specifically from mount Vensuvius. It has the ability to dry and set underwater. This 'secret' is said by many to have been lost for many centuries, but in fact was kept a 'masonic secret' by some masonic guilds for a long time. Yet the exact nature of this secret and its revelation are hazy.
Yes, blood was used as an ad-mixture to some Roman cements. I can't remember what benefit it added.
Some places add organic material to concrete, with a variety of results. Done correctly, it increases the strength of concrete. Done badly, it's a recepie for disaster. Using straw is certainly bad, but evidently hemp and possibly other materials can be used. Exactly what works under given conditions is not known to me. It may be another one of the 'masonic' secrets.
The use of rice flour in building chinese constructions is so well known that my old man (who is a bit of a greenie) has been playing with it for years!
Yes, that's right, Rice Flour + Cement. It seems to be basically a lime replacement, which is a common additive to Portland Cement anyhow.
ZOMG! Calgon!
Damping absorbs vibrations. Dampening is caused by moisture.
Why am I always hungry 2 hours after Chinese food or Japanese sushi??
TFA says that the rice additive has been used since the Ming Dynasty... and then goes on to say 1500 years ago. Ming Dynasty ruled around 1500 AD. They got themselves a 1000 year discrepancy there. Would sure be nice if they were more accurate about what they meant.
Which is another thing. Concrete doesn't have to be ugly. So WTF are so many modern concrete buildings so god damned ugly?
A reflection of the people who paid for them, and those who designed them. ...and the society that doesn't tear them down.
LIME
IRON
SILICA
ALUMINA
I follow the links and couldn't find anything about the exact recipe for concrete/mortar. Just that "the scientists prepared lime mortars with varying amounts of sticky rice and tested their performance compared to traditional lime mortar."
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Not that I am saying this rice idea is a bad one, but I am sitting in a house that is a hundred years old as I type this. Almost all of the buildings around me are the same age. The one next to the one I am in is ~250 years old and people live in it.
Houses in Central Europe tend to last very long, though one or two world wars may have cut down the average a tad.
Full text article.
As far as I could tell an addition of 3.0% sticky rice soup to standard mortar improved strength:
there is not always a positive relation between the strength and the sticky rice content. The sticky rice component in moderation is helpful in the development of the strength of lime mortar, because its water retentivity favors the carbonation reaction of lime and the subsequent increase in mechanical strength.(45) However, organic matter in excess will work as a retarder and restrain the carbonization reaction(46) of lime mortar. Therefore, when there is a >3.0% sticky rice solution in the lime mortar, the development of the strength of lime mortar will be restrained.
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