Tarmac vs Asphalt
On the surface, tarmac and asphalt look exactly the same. Despite their striking similarity, they have many notable differences. Tarmac driveways also known as Taramacadam is made by mixing tar, sand, and macadam surfaces. It was pioneered in the 1820s by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam. However, macadam surfaces were prone to generating dust. A major discovery in the pursuit to stabilise macadam surfaces came about in 1901. It involved Edgar Purnell Hooley, a British businessman who is credited with inventing tarmacadam.
In 1901, as Edgar Purnell Hooley was walking passed a tar factory, he noticed a smooth stretch of road. It is reported that he was told that a barrel of tar had spilled on the macadamized road and someone had poured gravel on the tar to cover up the mess. Hooley noted that this accidental resurfacing solidified the road and hardly any dust was produced while travelling on it. He went on to trademark tarmac in 1903. Since then, tarmac has been used to refer to any type of paved road including airport runways and city roads.