How much does a piece of wood weigh?

Answer 1

A 'piece of wood' is very vague. It all depends on the size of the piece and what type of wood it is. Strictly, the weight is the volume of the piece multiplied by the density of the particular wood. Wood floats in water therefore it weighs less than water. Water weighs about 80 pounds per cubic foot. If the wood is wet (freshly cut) it might be 20 to 25 percent water or about 20 pounds per cubic foot. If it is old and dry it might be 5 percent water or about 4 pounds per cubic foot. To this you need to add the weight of the dry wood itself. The weight of completely dry wood is related to the compactness of the cells which depends on the species of wood. "Softwoods"such as balsa or pine are relatively light (large cells with lots of empty space in between which is why they are "soft") while "hardwoods" like oak, walnut or ebony are relatively heavy (small cells packed closely togehter which makes them "hard"). Completely dry pine might weigh 10 pounds per cubic foot (this is a guess, not a fact) while completely dry walnut might weigh 30 to 40 pounds per cubic foot (another guess). Wood still floats even when completely wet so the total weight will always be less than the weight of the same volume of water.