Rice Mortar Buildings
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Sticky Rice Mortar Buildings in China
How is it that structures built 1,500 years ago in China have survived
multiple earthquakes while newer buildings have been utterly destroyed,
time and time again? The secret is a super-strong mortar made
from sticky rice. Scientists have discovered that construction workers
in ancient China mixed sticky rice soup with slaked lime, which is
limestone that has been heated to a high temperature and then exposed to
water. The combination of these two substances is nearly
indestructible, and buildings made with it have even resisted demolition
by modern construction equipment like bulldozers.
