Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 79k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Eugene Oppelt

    4545

  • Hairy

    4360

  • gummibear

    3909

  • Eddy Gordo

    3867

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted

You mean "by weight " surely?

Not necessarily. Wood and other natural products are very strong. Ever seen a tree with a monster branch or trunk at a crazy angle and weight? Could you imagine steel holding up those weights at those angles with no extra support?

 

Here is a fun fact for you. If you set a steel based structure and wood based structure on fire and managed to extinguish the flames soon enough , you could actually continue to use the wood building. The steel building would collapse when the temperatures reached 800 degrees or something (the steel would melt). The wood beams on the other hand would only be burning on the surface. So, in theory, you could clean off the blackened surface of the wood and the inside would still be ok. 

 

Obviously it is difficult to actually be able to put out the fire, but still.

Posted (edited)

Not necessarily. Wood and other natural products are very strong. Ever seen a tree with a monster branch or trunk at a crazy angle and weight? Could you imagine steel holding up those weights at those angles with no extra support?

 

Here is a fun fact for you. If you set a steel based structure and wood based structure on fire and managed to extinguish the flames soon enough , you could actually continue to use the wood building. The steel building would collapse when the temperatures reached 800 degrees or something (the steel would melt). The wood beams on the other hand would only be burning on the surface. So, in theory, you could clean off the blackened surface of the wood and the inside would still be ok.

 

Obviously it is difficult to actually be able to put out the fire, but still.

Steel melts at 1400 degrees, if you subjected a tree to that temperature it would probably explode. Edited by Patchelicious
Posted

Steel melts at 1400 degrees, if you subjected a tree to that temperature it would probably explode.

It is known that structural steel begins to soften around 425°C and loses about half of its strength at 650°C. 

Posted

Not necessarily. Wood and other natural products are very strong. Ever seen a tree with a monster branch or trunk at a crazy angle and weight? Could you imagine steel holding up those weights at those angles with no extra support?

 

Here is a fun fact for you. If you set a steel based structure and wood based structure on fire and managed to extinguish the flames soon enough , you could actually continue to use the wood building. The steel building would collapse when the temperatures reached 800 degrees or something (the steel would melt). The wood beams on the other hand would only be burning on the surface. So, in theory, you could clean off the blackened surface of the wood and the inside would still be ok. 

 

Obviously it is difficult to actually be able to put out the fire, but still.

 

Necessarily, completely, totally, comprehensively and scientifically :-)

 

I have seen tons of trees. I have also seen tons of failure tests in a laboratory and steel is stronger.

Posted

Pine has a tensile strength of around 40mpa - steel starts around 400mpa.

 

The density of Finnish pine is 370 – 550 kg/m3, spruce 300 – 470 kg/m3 and birch 590 – 740 kg/m3.

 

Those are pretty soft woods. Bear in mind wood's tensile strength increases as it's density increases.

 

Wood is also 20 times stronger along the grain than across it, so that needs to be taken onto account too.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Settings My Forum Content My Followed Content Forum Settings Ad Messages My Ads My Favourites My Saved Alerts My Pay Deals Help Logout