Science Behind Sidewalk Essay

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Why Do Sidewalks Crack? Are your sidewalks infested with cracks making them look pathetic? But wait! What cracks are you talking about? Weather at home, office or at the local shopping mall you will notice synonymous cracks in all the sidewalks. Well some of the cracks are genuinely there while others are unwanted and have to be dealt with. Science behind Sidewalk Cracks Due to temperature change concrete expands and contracts just like many other seemingly indestructible construction materials. Let’s look at it this way; thinks of your sidewalk as one continuous slab. In the morning when the temperatures are low your solid continuous slap will contract. As the day ages the sun intensity heats up the sidewalk causing the temperature to rise making it to expand. With no …show more content…

2. Extreme weather Despite employing the best engineering techniques slabs may eventually yield to Mother Nature’s wrath. Extreme temperatures can cause the slabs to continuously expand and contract resulting to surface cracks. In the arctic regions and the equatorial regions adverse temperatures is the main cause of sidewalk cracks. 3. Air Pockets In other cases, empty spaces in the soil below the slab can lead to cracks. This mostly happens when the slab rests on uneven ground that has not solidly compacted hence creating empty pockets of air. Over a period of time soil settles into the pockets. Since soil is not strong enough it offers inadequate support causing the slab sinks and eventually crack. Categories of Slab Cracks 1. Plastic Shrinkage Cracks Generally this occurs when the slab loses water faster than anticipated such that the top side dries more quickly than the bottom side; inducing a tag of war between the two sides. Mostly this happens during an extremely windy or hot

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