4 ms·

> In the time it takes you to read this sentence, the global building industry will have poured more than 19,000 bathtubs of concrete Let's see. Google says 1

> In the time it takes you to read this sentence, the global building industry will have poured more than 19,000 bathtubs of concrete Let's see. Google says 13ft² * 19000=247000ft² And someone uses 10sec to read the sentence Surface area of earth=5.49 × 10^15 ft² 10 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 365.25 = 315576000 bathtub-sentence-years 5490000000000000/247000/31557600 704.322276yrs until the planet is covered in concrete.

eesmith 5y ago
Quoting https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/sand-shortage-the-world-is-running-out-of-a-crucial-commodity.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/sand-shortage-the-world-is-r... : > The UN estimates that 4.1 billion tons of cement is produced every year, driven primarily by China See also https://www.statista.com/statistics/267364/world-cement-production-by-country/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/267364/world-cement-prod... . Concrete is about 2,000 kg/m³ - https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/concrete-properties-d_1223.html https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/concrete-properties-d_122... 704 years * 4.1 billion metric tons/year / (2,000 kg / m / m / m) / (510,064,472 km * km ) => 2.83 mm So, 704 years to cover the planet in 3mm of concrete. The article says "In a single year, there is enough to patio over every hill, dale, nook and cranny in England". I am not able to reproduce that. Using 130,279 km2 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_England https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_England (4.1 billion metric tons) / (2,000 kg / m / m / m) / (130,279 km * km) => 1.57 cm https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=concrete+patio+thickness&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=concrete+patio+thickness&ia... suggests 4 inches is the minimum depth for a patio, or about 10 cm. Which means it would take about 6 years to patio England. FWIW, 4.1 billion metric tons/year * 10 seconds => 1.3 kilo tons 1.3 kilo tons / density of concrete => 650 kilo Liters 650 kL / 19,000 bathtubs => 32 liters per bathtub I doubt UK bathtubs are 32 L. I'm finding numbers like around 150-200 L for a bathtub - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=volume+of+a+bathtub+in+liters&t=ffsb&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=volume+of+a+bathtub+in+liters&t=ff... .
- smitty1e 5y ago
  How exactly we're curing all of this concrete over the ocean surface is left as an exercise for the straight-line approximation aficionado.
- jobigoud 5y ago
  > over every hill, dale, nook and cranny in England That would take topography into account which another rabbit hole like calculating the perimeter of Great Britain. Cf. Stand-up Maths, Does "land area" assume a country is perfectly flat? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtKhbbcc1Rc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtKhbbcc1Rc
mythrwy 5y ago
I don't know how valid the "19,000 bathtubs" of concrete number is, but it's worth noting much of this is poured vertically (as in footings or high rises or thick pads). That might buy us a little time until the planet is covered.

eesmith 5y ago

Quoting https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/sand-shortage-the-world-is-running-out-of-a-crucial-commodity.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/sand-shortage-the-world-is-r... : > The UN estimates that 4.1 billion tons of cement is produced every year, driven primarily by China See also https://www.statista.com/statistics/267364/world-cement-production-by-country/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/267364/world-cement-prod... . Concrete is about 2,000 kg/m³ - https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/concrete-properties-d_1223.html https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/concrete-properties-d_122... 704 years * 4.1 billion metric tons/year / (2,000 kg / m / m / m) / (510,064,472 km * km ) => 2.83 mm So, 704 years to cover the planet in 3mm of concrete. The article says "In a single year, there is enough to patio over every hill, dale, nook and cranny in England". I am not able to reproduce that. Using 130,279 km2 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_England https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_England (4.1 billion metric tons) / (2,000 kg / m / m / m) / (130,279 km * km) => 1.57 cm https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=concrete+patio+thickness&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=concrete+patio+thickness&ia... suggests 4 inches is the minimum depth for a patio, or about 10 cm. Which means it would take about 6 years to patio England. FWIW, 4.1 billion metric tons/year * 10 seconds => 1.3 kilo tons 1.3 kilo tons / density of concrete => 650 kilo Liters 650 kL / 19,000 bathtubs => 32 liters per bathtub I doubt UK bathtubs are 32 L. I'm finding numbers like around 150-200 L for a bathtub - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=volume+of+a+bathtub+in+liters&t=ffsb&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=volume+of+a+bathtub+in+liters&t=ff... .

smitty1e 5y ago
How exactly we're curing all of this concrete over the ocean surface is left as an exercise for the straight-line approximation aficionado.
jobigoud 5y ago
> over every hill, dale, nook and cranny in England That would take topography into account which another rabbit hole like calculating the perimeter of Great Britain. Cf. Stand-up Maths, Does "land area" assume a country is perfectly flat? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtKhbbcc1Rc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtKhbbcc1Rc

mythrwy 5y ago

I don't know how valid the "19,000 bathtubs" of concrete number is, but it's worth noting much of this is poured vertically (as in footings or high rises or thick pads). That might buy us a little time until the planet is covered.