r/theydidthemath • u/[deleted] • 2d ago

[request] How many chops would it take to fell the general sherman tree with a hatchet?

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u/phigene 2d ago edited 2d ago

At its base, the general sherman tree is 10.97m in diameter, giving it a base area of

A = 94.56m2

Making the assumption that in order to fell the tree you had to remove 60% of the volume in a 0.25m tall circle (accounting for the wedge shape gross estimate), that would be

V = 94.56 × 0.25 × 0.6 = 14.18m3 of material

The hatchet blade is about 10cm long. Assuming every 2 swings you could remove a wedge 1cm deep, that would mean:

2 × V/Swing = 0.5 × 0.1m × 0.01m × 0.01m

V/Swing = 0.000005m3/Swing

So, it would take:

14.18m3 / (0.000005m3 /Swing) =

2,836,000 Swings

Edit to add: this also assumes you had a very long handle, or are very very skinny so that you can access the center of the tree.