Question

Mortar is a mixture of:
A. Lime and water
B. Lime and sand
C. Lime, sand and water
D. Lime and cement

Answer 1

Hint: Try to recall that mortars are ceramic mixtures for joining other solids together. This is usually brick or stonework. Now, by using this you can easily find the correct option from the given options.

Complete step by step solution:
The term mortar is used to indicate a paste prepared by adding a required amount of water to a mixture of binding materials like cement or lime and fine aggregate like sand. This is used to bond masonry or other structural units. It is a mixture composed of sand, lime or cement and water.
The following are the major functions of mortar:
1) To bind building materials such as bricks and stones into a solid mass.
2) To carry out pointing and plasterwork on exposed surfaces of masonry.
3) To form an even and soft bedding layer for building units.
4) To form joints of pipes.
5) To improve the general appearance of structure.
6) To prepare moulds for coping, corbels, cornice, etc.
7) To serve as a matrix or cavity to hold the coarse aggregates, etc.

Therefore, from above we can easily conclude that option C is the correct option to the given question.

Note:
It should be noted that cement is a finely divided powdered mixture of calcium silicates and aluminates along with small quantities of gypsum which sets into a hard stone like mass when treated with water.
Also, you should remember that Portland cement is a product obtained by combining a material rich in lime with other materials such as clay, which contains silica along with oxides of aluminium.