Vaporizing a forest

[Fupdumpthegump]

How much energy would be required to vaporize an entire forest, like the Kakamega Forest in Africa.

 

[ShieldsPlus]

Is it even possible to vaporize wood? I'd imagine those trees would combust into flames and turn into ash first.

 

[Gilad_Hyperstar]

Pretty sure you can't vaporize flammable things since they'll just turn into Ash with enough heat provided

 

[Duedate8898]

Combustion is essentially woods form of vaporization since a good portion of the mass is loss as vapor

 

[Gilad_Hyperstar]

That's just water being vaporized though. The rest of the wood just burns and turns to ash

 

[Duedate8898]

Most of wood, particularly living wood like a forest would have tends to be composed of water. Checking here, I found this:

Living trees, however, are very wet. In fact, although there can be great variation between tree species (and seasonally), a living tree may be made up of more than two thirds water by mass. Thus, a living tree is made up of 15-18% carbon, 9-10% hydrogen, and 65-75% oxygen by mass."

Which makes sense because I don't think there's any bit of matter that can't be vaporized.

 

[LIFE_OF_KING]

Is it even possible to vaporize wood?

Yeah

 

[FinePoint]

Wood burning is a chemical reaction that occurs long before wood reaches its melting point, but that's not to say wood cannot undergo physical change. ALL matter can be melted, vaporized, and vice versa, in the case of woods, it's simply very difficult to do so without it oxidizing.

Ignoring oxidization, or heating it so fast that it vaporizes instantly, is possible.

 

[Fupdumpthegump]

Well now that we have cleared that up, can anyone answer it.

 

[LIFE_OF_KING]

I really don't know what this forest.

 

[FinePoint]

If you're asking for an actual calculation, you should do so on the calculation request thread.

 

[LIFE_OF_KING]

Oh, I found the area

Kakamega area = 238km^2 or 2.38e+12cm^2
Avarege tree height = 26.7 meters or 26700cm
Volume = 26700*2.38e+12
Volume = 6.3546e+16cm^3

I will reduce 90%

Total volume = 6.3546e+15
Vapourization Value for Wood= 1669J/cm^3
Energy = 6.3546e+15*1669
Energy = 1.0605827e+19 Joules (High 7-A)

 

[FinePoint]

Oh, I found the area

Kakamega area = 238km^2 or 2.38e+12cm^2
Avarege tree height = 26.7 meters or 26700cm
Volume = 26700*2.38e+12
Volume = 6.3546e+16cm^3

I will reduce 90%

Total volume = 6.3546e+15
Vapourization Value for Wood= 1669J/cm^3
Energy = 6.3546e+15*1669
Energy = 1.0605827e+19 Joules (High 7-A)

Where did you get that "vapourization value"?

 

[LIFE_OF_KING]

Here

 

[FinePoint]

Large Mountain seems believable.

 

[Fupdumpthegump]

Thank you, and by the way this was just a question and not to get a calc for a character, in fact this was intended for questions and answers but I accidentally put it here.

 

[Duedate8898]

It has been moved to Q&A

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Yeah, I don't think wood melts or vaporizes in a traditional sense; mostly combust. Though it might be possible for more extreme heat to vaporize wood instantly; like not even the ashes remain.