Isabelle's Project Page

Who:  I am a born and raised Utahn who came to the University of Utah for the ACCESS program. I love Utah’s geological phenomena, and enjoy reading and writing high fantasy books.

My scientific/engineering interests:  From a young age, chemistry has called to me. I collected rocks for a long time, fascinated by how they were formed; however, I never realized how much I could enjoy it until high school. I started pursuing chemistry academically and now want to understand the molecular interactions of materials.

Academic goals: I want to continue working with my ACCESS lab for next year, and major in materials science & engineering.

Career goals:  I want to work to produce items that can help sustain our world and help people.

Ancient Roman concrete has some interesting properties due to its composition of pozzolan and lime. The most important part of this composition is the size distribution of the pozzolan particles. When attempting to replicate the Ancient Roman formula using a different material, in this case basalt from the Red Dome Quarry, getting the size ratios correct is vital to understanding why our concrete acts differently from the Roman concrete. There are two different ‘perfect’ size distributions: harenae fossiciae, and pulveris. Our research is focused on the pulveris distribution, which involves far more fine, sand-like particles than larger, rock-like particles. Our experimentation involved making sample mortars of pozzolane rosse, one using the same pozzolan as the Romans did, and one using Red Dome Quarry basalt. The samples were hardening when the University of Utah called for self isolation. Before this, we were observing the mortar’s progress by using a specialized hardening test to show how well it resisted applied pressure.

Replicating Ancient Roman Concrete in the University of Utah Laboratories Download Replicating Ancient Roman Concrete in the University of Utah Laboratories