June 18, 2004

Concrete struts its stuff in Washington, D.C.

Photo courtesy of ASCE Civil engineering students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison paddled their concrete canoe to a first-place finish in last year’s National Concrete Canoe Competition.

It is a building material both ubiquitous and extraordinary. Concrete is in the sidewalks beneath our feet, the walls that surround us and in the skyscrapers that tower above our heads. Yet this ordinary, everyday material has many surprising, fascinating properties.

In celebration of this versatile substance, Washington, D.C.'s National Building Museum is holding a family oriented concrete carnival on Saturday, June 19, to educate visitors about concrete through fun hands-on activities and demonstrations. The event is sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Master Builders Inc. and Lafarge.

ASCE and Master Builders will be presenting their 17th annual National Concrete Canoe Competition as part of this festival, including student presentations and canoe floatation tests. Visitors can watch the tests and interact with the competing team members, while also examining the variety of canoes. On Sunday, June 20, the student teams will take their canoes to Lake Fairfax in Reston, Va., for a series of races.

“Many people never give concrete a second thought — and fewer still understand how versatile and interesting it can be,” said Master Builders President and CEO Mike Shydlowski. “It's easy to think that concrete will simply sink like a stone, and yet 22 teams of students will prove not only that it can float, but that it can race.”

The festival also celebrates the opening of the museum's exhibition called “Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete,” and will teach children and their families about the properties and uses of concrete with kid-friendly educational activities.

“Concrete makes up a major part of our built environment,” said Ed Worthy, vice president for education at the National Building Museum. “What better way to get this concept across to people of all ages than to hold the National Concrete Canoe Competition at the museum at the same time we open our major new exhibition on the topic and organize a festival to give people hands-on experiences with the substance.”

But can concrete capture the attention of children?

Absolutely. Just ask “Rocky.”

Ask him anything, as long as it's a question about concrete. Rocky, Lafarge's mascot, will be walking around the festival discussing aspects of concrete and answering questions. Children can quiz him on their way to the Concrete Petting Zoo or to build a dam out of Popsicle sticks, aquarium gravel and modeling clay.

Festival goers will learn:

• Some substances neither float nor sink in water — they “flink,” or stay suspended. As visitors manipulate small objects to flink, they will learn about buoyancy.

• Just in time for Father's Day, visitors can make and decorate their own concrete paperweights. Kids will mix and mold concrete with their own hands, giving them a first-hand feel at how concrete is made.

• Just like using a recipe out of a cookbook, visitors will concoct their own “edible concrete.” Using graham cracker crumbs, confectioner's sugar and a liquid mixture — far tastier than concrete's real ingredients of portland cement, aggregate, water and add mixtures — visitors will make a small treat in the same manner as concrete.

• A concrete mixing truck that will appeal to children's love of trucks will be on hand outside the museum, with the driver ready to answer questions about how it works. Visitors will be free to climb into the cab of the truck.

• Concrete is a result of a chemical reaction that causes a change in physical properties. To demonstrate that type of reaction, children will mix chemicals that create a slimy consistency. The result is a colorful — and slimy — substance that children can play with.

“These simple experiments are designed to make people consider how extraordinary the ordinary can be,” said ASCE President Patricia D. Galloway. “When visitors walk outside after the festival, they'll have a new appreciation for the substance below their feet.”

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