Wood

trees · materials · nature

Made by trees. Wood is xylem tissue that trees grow to support themselves and transport water from their roots to their leaves. It's basically the skeleton that holds a tree up.

Strong fibers plus glue. Wood is made of cellulose fibers (the strong stretchy stuff) surrounded by lignin, a natural cement-like substance that holds everything together and makes wood stiff and hard.

Stronger than you'd think. Wood is a composite material, meaning it combines two things to create something more useful than either part alone, kind of like how bricks and mortar make a stronger wall than either alone.

Renewable resource. Unlike metals or stone, trees grow back, so we can harvest wood again and again from forests that are managed carefully.

Burns as fuel. Humans have burned wood for warmth and cooking for over a million years because it stores energy from sunlight that trees absorbed while they were growing.