Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Pyramids built from geopolymer stones? - Limestone concrete

Pyramids made of concrete


Ive been doing some reading on geo-polymers.  Some information I already knew of the mix of limestone and clays.

While I dont doubt there is some stone in many structures, it is well documented even in The Great Wall of China geo-polymer was used with extensive use of sticky rice starch which is essentially a water thickener.

While many think people of the time were quite basic with low technology I think they had much greater knowledge than many think. To me the Egyptians and other societies such as Mayans were salt of the earth, very in contact with climate, nature, habitat and seasons. My guess is pyramids would have been used for many things such as navigation, surveying land and earth.

It is known amongst tradesmen that years ago using lime mortar, the tradesman would go to the mill and request millers flour which was essentially ground stalk releasing the cellulose from the plant.
This cellulose acted as a water thickener which made the non-hydraulic lime mortar fluid with a lower volume of water.  Less water meant less shrinkage, less weight and a harder mix.
The product now is regarded as methyl cellulose which is commonly used as the main ingredient in wall paper glue. Methyl cellulose is present in hydraulic lime and cement products today.

India use sugar which is different but in non-hydraulic lime mortar claims it increases non-hydraulic lime mortar strength by as much as 50%.

The great thing about non-hydraulic lime mortar is that  you can keep it covered for use with a skin of water and it will essentially not go off until it is exposed to air where re-absorption carbon dioxide sets it off .

Hydraulic mortars will go off with a very short life of about an hour dependant on heat to go hard with the advantage of going off underwater etc so they both have their place.

In looking at the grain principle, another byproduct of grain production is silicon dioxide, sodium silicate (water glass). This and similar other products are used for sealing limestone today to prevent mould and harden the surface to prevent corrosion.

Could have Egyptians used these byproducts of grain production to harden the stones & harden the skin, harden the evident render on the outer skin.

Could have Egyptians painted the pyramids with a limewash with silicon dioxide to form a glowing white hard skin, glowing in all their glory bright white in a harsh desert?

I feel the Egyptians would have used both these products and poured large stones in the pyramids insitu as is done today with concrete and similar reconstituted limestone blocks today.

The Egyptians could have poured the self leveling mix into the ground forming a perfect level footing for the pyramids. Using the concrete mix would explain the fine 1mm joints between the large stones.

Egyptians would have made a large mix then walked it up the pyramid, poured it one by one into boxes and formed cold joints where the mix met the stone.

I feel the pyramids were navigation aids, large white sparkling beacons where triangulation was used to ascertain distance, angle, seasons, climate upon their face.

They had Alchemists. They had knowledge. More than many grant them today.

Its interesting stuff.







1 comment:

Neil said...

Water glass, also called sodium silicate or soluble glass, a compound containing sodium oxide (Na2O) and silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) that forms a glassy solid with the very useful property of being soluble in water.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/637082/water-glass