3 ms·
I'm actually wondering why don't we make things out of liquid stone (aka lava). Like 3d printing but with stone. I guess the next years will figure this years
by guard-of-terra 11y ago
I'm actually wondering why don't we make things out of liquid stone (aka lava).
Like 3d printing but with stone. I guess the next years will figure this years and we'll go all neoclassical with granite statues, pylons and stuff.
- dsuth 11y agoIf I had to guess - the astronomical energy requirements to heat stone up to 3000 degF.
- DanBC 11y agoCement?
- jacquesm 11y agoMore likely: concrete. And that's exactly what it is: liquid stone that can be poured at room temperature. And if you add some rebar the compound material can have some pretty good tensile properties too.
- guard-of-terra 11y agoConcrete is ugly, rough and it crumbles. Good stone is beautiful and very durable.
- jacquesm 11y agoUgly -> taste, Rough -> you can have concrete with arbitrary levels of polish all the way up to shiny smooth if you finish it right, crumbling is a property common to all crystalline materials including all the stones found in nature, with the exception of some precious stones with incredible hardness. That's why stones tend to be round, erosion gets the better of them over time. Concrete takes a long time to really set (depending on the thickness of the pour: up to centuries!) but can be used relatively quickly after the pouring in a load bearing construction. And even if you don't particularly like the material, in the end it is what you can make out of it that is ugly or beautiful (Compare a bunker with say the CN Tower in Toronto or the Sydney Opera). For the general use case of 'poured stone' concrete does quite well.