qed
Senior Member
9-11 Debunker, Steven Dutch (Natural and Applied Sciences, of the University of Wisconsin), has this to say
- Does concrete melt?
9-11 Debunker, Steven Dutch (Natural and Applied Sciences, of the University of Wisconsin), has this to say
- Does concrete melt?
@Landru
All I am asking is if concrete can melt.
Please stay on topic. I had to post evidence and I got it from a debunking site. I have no premise.
Yes. Molten concrete is one of the indicators that is pointed out in the exotic accelerants section of the NFPA investigation guidelines.Does concrete melt?
Yes. Molten concrete is one of the indicators that is pointed out in the exotic accelerants section of the NFPA investigation guidelines.
Molten concrete is one of the indicators that is pointed out in the exotic accelerants section of the NFPA investigation guidelines.
You should.I did do a Google search "does concrete melt" and that was what I got. Perhaps we should start a Debunked person thread on Steven Dutch.
It is rare for granites to be present in concrete. They are strong and hard, and expensive to crush. Flint stones are another water-of-crystallization product (found in chalk beds) which make great concrete. That's the usual material. Where I am they use pumice, or slightly less-aerated, er, lava. But volcanic islands don't normally have chalk in their soils.I still don't quite see why we don't get "lava"? (Not enough granites left to melt?)
Yes. Molten concrete is one of the indicators that is pointed out in the exotic accelerants section of the NFPA investigation guidelines.
It's easy enough to test. Take a piece of spalled-off concrete, and, wearing goggles and protective clothing, toast it with a propane burner. I've done it, and lived to tell the tale. Nice bang...
I have never managed to melt it.
A thermal lance is thermite-in-a-rod, so the "something molten" could be iron or metal slag. (Or anything else from which oxygen might be stripped by the burning aluminum).This video shows someone cutting concrete and stone with a thermal lance. There's clearly something molten there.
It's easy enough to test. Take a piece of spalled-off concrete, and, wearing goggles and protective clothing, toast it with a propane burner. I've done it, and lived to tell the tale. Nice bang...
I have never managed to melt it.
Consider a block of concrete in a hypothetical oven at 800 degrees c. I leave it for a while.
- Will I see a puddle of "lava" on the floor?
While it is some time since I sat an exam in igneous petrology, pulling A. Hall from my bookshelf, I read
Perhaps I misunderstand you?
- "The temperature range up to 1500 degree c encompasses all the igneous phenomena likely to occur near the Earth's surface".
It actually depends on the source. wolfram Alpha lists quartz/silicon dioxide at a melting point of 1427C. And sand varies with location, so it could be different depending on what the sand actually consists of.I'm just looking stuff up here. Sand is generally silicon dioxide which Wikipedia lists as melting at 1600C to 1725C. I believe it is plastic at a much lower temperature - like with glass blowing.
Don't forget, concrete is mostly rock. The cement binds.
@Mick West [:sigh:]
I place 100kg of concrete in an oven at 1000C.
I return later.
I then let the oven cool and determine the mass of the contents of the oven.
- What will I see inside the oven?
- What will be the mass?
@Mick West [:sigh:]
I place 100kg of concrete in an oven at 1000C.
I return later.
I then let the oven cool and determine the mass of the contents of the oven.
- What will I see inside the oven?
- What will be the mass?
I place 100kg of concrete in an oven at 1500C.
I return later.
1000C = 1832F
- What will I see inside the oven?
1000F = 537C
Concrete melts.
It's hard to say really...we could get into a debate over what's considered melting.But it's not actually concrete at that point.
Iron melts. Concrete decomposes, some components of it evaporate, and some melt (at various temperatures).
It's hard to say really...we could get into a debate over what's considered melting.
When iron melts, the oxygen is released, obviously it doesn't melt. So can we say iron doesn't melt because one of its constituents doesn't?
I should have been more specific; does iron ore melt?Oxygen is not a constituent of iron. Iron is an element.
I'd say a handy definition of if something can melt is if it can exist in molten form. Concrete cannot exist in molten form.