What is the difference between cement and concrete?
Shrimp and prawns, jelly and jam, opossum and possum, crocodile and alligator--all items that seem similar but are, in fact, very different from each other.
And one more especially relevant pair for this site: concrete v. cement. For many people, these two words are as interchangeable as Great Britain and the United Kingdom. As it turns out in both cases, one is a part of the other!
The difference between GB + UK:
Great Britain: England, Scotland, Wales
United Kingdom: Great Britain + Northern Ireland
The difference between cement and concrete and concrete:
Cement: A powdered chemical combination of powdered calcium, silicon, aluminum, and other raw minerals.
Concrete: Cement + water + aggregate (rock, sand, or gravel)
We’re obviously not here to talk about where Queen Elizabeth still reigns supreme, but it helps us tell the sovereign story of concrete v. cement.
What is cement used for?
Cement is essentially a binding agent that interacts with water to produce a glue to hold the big and small rocks together. Nature-made materials like limestone, shells, shale, clay, slate, iron ore, and chalk are heated and then ground into a powder. On its own, cement is fairly weak and not particularly durable. Cement’s primary job is to serve as an ingredient in the recipe that is concrete. When mixed with water, it can also act as:
Grout for tiles
Masonry top layer
Concrete repair solution
What is concrete used for?
As we mentioned earlier, concrete is essentially the combination of cement, water, and aggregate (aka rocks and sand). Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCM) and Chemical Admixtures are often added to enhance the quality of the cement paste. When all these ingredients are mixed together, the cement chemically reacts with the water in a process called hydration, and you get the recipe for concrete.
We use the term “ready-mix concrete” to describe the liquid form of concrete before it’s poured into its final shape. It’s the version you’ll see mixing around in a concrete truck. Concrete is extremely durable and has many uses:
House Foundations
Patios
Pools & Pool Decks
Driveways
Sidewalks and Pathways
Large Scale Building Slabs
Building Walls & Columns
Parking Lots & Garages
Bridges
Roadways
Schools
Now you know the difference between concrete and cement. The next time you hear somebody misspeak about strawberry fruit spreads or tell you the cement is really hot on their bare feet: send ‘em to this blog.