But what exactly is concrete? People often confuse the term “concrete” with “cement” – although the two are actually different. In fact, cement is one of the main ingredients of concrete, along with other rock-like materials (and sometimes actual rocks) such as aggregate (gravel, crushed rock, limestone, granite, sand), water, and other chemicals.

Concrete starts off as dry and dusty, then as water and chemicals are added, it turns into a slurry, and begins to solidify. The end result is a very robust, rock-like material that can be poured, smoothed, spread, and molded to fit the application needed.

Aside from the foundations of buildings, concrete is used to make pavements, pipes, walls, floors, and ceilings, roads and highways, bridges (both water and roadway bridges), parking complexes (nearly all of which are concrete these days), bricks, block walls (cinder blocks are made of concrete), and also to hold posts in place for gates, fences or other poles/posts (and basketball goals, of course).

Out of all man made materials, concrete is the most used, with more than a cubic yard for every person on earth being produced every year (that’s a lot of concrete). That’s over $35 billion being turned around in concrete and the use of it. More than 2 million people in the US are employed because of concrete.

So, next time you go walking down the sidewalk, don’t take it for granted – there’s a lot more behind that solid ground you’re walking on than you think.