Saturday, April 14, 2007

Sheetrock: your walls are actually full of water

I never knew that!

Made How
[...]Gypsum contains large amounts of water bound in crystalline form; 10 square feet (1.0 sq m) of gypsum board contains over 2 quarts (2 1) of water. When exposed to fire, the water in the gypsum board vaporizes; the temperature of the panel remains at 212°F (100°C) until all of the water is released, protecting the underlying wood framework[...]

[...]Each molecule of gypsum (or dihydrous calcium sulfate) is composed of two molecules of water (H20) and one of calcium sulfate (CaSO4). By weight the compound is 21% water, but by volume it is nearly 50% water[...]

1 comment:

CGHill said...

Kinda makes you wonder about that "drywall" business, doesn't it?