Around the world, we still have some buildings that date back to Ancient Greece and Rome. This is amazing to me but how have they lasted so long? A new study done by researchers at the Institute for Building Materials at ETH Zurich and at Princeton University have found that in historic stone buildings along with modern concrete buildings are being faced with a tremendous amount of weathering. The weathering comes from salt crystals. These crystals are getting into the stone or concrete and expanding, applying forces that make buildings crumble. These researchers found the salt crystals are entering buildings through materials used to make the stone and concrete, nearby ground water, pollution, and de-icing liquids (for the more modern buildings). However, the researchers have hoped to provide our communities with the ability to predict when a building will be damaged because of weathering. Although their conclusions come from a controlled environment/experiment the results showed the higher the concentration, the more powerful the salt crystals become. Yet, as our society has progressed higher concentrations are needed to break down our buildings. The researchers now leave me with the idea of what is the next step in trying to stop our buildings from falling apart or crumbling? Is it more controlled experiments, is it possible to stop, or is there a formula to create a material similar to stone and concrete?
Submitted by Perley Provost
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