Is cement heavier when it's wet or when it's dry?Say, i have enough cement to make one cement block, would it be heavier when it's wet or when it dries into the block. Or would it weigh the same amount?(just wondering, sorry if the question seems kind of dumb)
I can answer this question because I JUST had to move two bags of cement. One bag was dry and although it was heavy, I was able to move it without a problem. The other bag somehow got wet. I could barely budge it and am waiting for my son to come and wrestle with the damn thing. It weighs a ton!!! So, first hand experience, once cement gets wet, it holds onto every drop of water for dear life and while absorbing all that water, it weighs it down substantially. For sure.
Wet cement is heavier than dry.
Cement is heavier when wet than dry as the weight of the water has to be taken into account as well as the cement. For example a cubic square foot of water weighs 10lbs. It is most likely that a dried block of cement may weigh slightly less than when wet as a small proportion of water will evaporate during the drying out process.
I am assuming you are referring to the weight of a quantity of cement mixed with the requisite water for molding (and not hardened) vs that same cement once it is in a fully cured (hardened) condition. When cement hardens (cures) it does not lose all the water which was originally mixed with it, some of the water remains permanently incorporated into the cement. This is because the active ingredient in dry (as purchased) cement is primarily anhydrous calcium silicate*. When the cement cures and dries out it is in the form of a hydrate of calcium silicate and this portion of the water stays in the cement forever. When we mix cement with enough water so it can be poured or molded, we are adding more than the exact amount of water necessary for the hydration process, so, some, but not all, the water evaporates and thus, the wet cement would be heavier than hardened cement. *Yes, there is sand, gravel, etc but these are just fillers, they just go along for the ride, they do not under go any chemical change during the process.
The wet would be heavier because when the water evaporated,you would lose the weight of the water. It would have nothing to do with, if dry cement was heavier than water or visa versa. Oh yeah, a cubic fot of water weighs more than 10 pounds, water weighs 8 pounds per gallon. A cubic foot of water is 7.48 gallons and weighs 59.84 pounds.
