QUESTION ( NEED to know)?!

QUESTION ( NEED to know)?

How Much Wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood could chuck wood?

How much wood must a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck must chuck wood? This has been a question asked by humanity for as long as there have been tongue-twisters in the English language. This question could easily be answered by saying, as much wood as a wood chuck must chuck if a wood chuck must chuck wood but what would be the fun in that. I've decided in the process of my twisted thinking that I would find a better answer. You have to think of the following factors.

1. Can a woodchuck chuck wood?
2. How does one "chuck?"
3. How does plant matter classified as wood?

The operative question in the riddle is "must ." Woodchucks are also known as groundhogs. So the only type of wood a woodchuck "chucks" is maybe roots, if roots even count as wood. So a woodchuck cannot actually "chuck" wood. I'm not one to mess up a good riddle in one blow so let's just assume the woodchuck can "chuck" wood. We can only assume that "chuck" means to chew like a beaver, that's what I've always thought. But the dictionary disagrees, to chuck, is "to toss; throw with a quick motion, usually a short distance," (Dictionary.com). So can a woodchuck throw wood? It doesn't even have to be far. The woodchuck is a rodent and if it is anything like its cousin the squirrel, it can pick things up. So a woodchuck can chuck wood, even if it isn't far but chucking wood depends on what kind of wood the said wood chuck is chucking. If the wood is heavy, more then the woodchuck weighs; then the woodchuck cannot chuck any wood.

How does plant matter become classified as "wood?" My good friend, Dictionary.com, says that wood is "the trunks or main stems of trees as suitable for architectural and other purposes; timber or lumber." So a woodchuck can chuck a stem right? This brings up the initial question, which I re-worded for clarity, how many stems can a groundhog throw if a groundhog could throw stems?

Let's do the math! We'll say that a woodchuck could chuck 1 stem every 5 seconds, which is 12 stems a minute, and 720 stems in an hour. That translates into 17,280 stems in a day with no breaks for sleep or eating. If a woodchuck could keep up this pace for a lifetime, which is roughly 6 years, dedicating its life to chucking wood. With an infinite supply of stems to throw, no breaks for sleeping, and eating, a woodchuck could chuck 6,311,520 pieces of wood in its lifetime.

Or just as much wood as a woodchuck must chuck if a woodchuck must chuck wood.