Cord (unit)

A cord of wood

The cord is a unit of measure of dry volume used to measure firewood and pulpwood in the United States and Canada.

A cord is the amount of wood that, when "racked and well stowed" (arranged so pieces are aligned, parallel, touching and compact), occupies a volume of 128 cubic feet (3.62 m3).[1] This corresponds to a well-stacked woodpile 4 feet (122 cm) high, 8 feet (244 cm) wide, and 4 feet (122 cm) deep; or any other arrangement of linear measurements that yields the same volume.

The name cord probably comes from the use of a cord or string to measure it.[2]

The cord-foot was a US unit of volume for stacked firewood, four feet long, four feet wide and one foot high—equal to one eighth of a cord.[3] The symbol for the unit was cd-ft.[4]

  1. ^ British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range. "Glossary of Forestry Terms in British Columbia" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  2. ^ "cord | Origin and meaning of cord by Online Etymology Dictionary". Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  3. ^ Luther Ainsworth (1837). Practical Mercantile Arithmetic: In which the Theory and Practice of Arithmetic are Familiarly Explained and Illustrated, by a Great Variety of Mercantile, Mechanical and Mathematical Problems. Providence, Rhode Island: B. Cranston. p. 220. ISBN 978-1130955545.
  4. ^ Cardarelli, François (2003). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins. Translated by Shields, M. J. (Rev. and exp. ed.). London: Springer. p. 52. ISBN 185233682X.