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What Is the Recipe for Concrete?
Most people say “cement” and “concrete” interchangeably. But they’re not the same thing. Cement is just one of the ingredients in concrete, and if you ask for cement at the lumberyard, you might get a bag of actual Portland cement.
Aside from cement, concrete contains sand and stones. Those stones, or “aggregate,” are a carefully measured mix of various sizes. Small stones fill in the gaps between larger ones, and sand fills in between them. Cement is the glue that holds it all together.
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Water Makes Concrete “Work”
Cement is mostly limestone that’s been ground up and superheated. Adding water causes a chemical reaction; microscopic crystals develop, grow and interlock, binding the aggregate together and forming a rock-hard mass.
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