Quantifiable Living: S’mores-firewood scale

Item: Firewood (size, burning power)


Unit of measure: S’mores


How it works: Size of kindling or logs for a fire can be measured in the number of S’mores it can make under ideal conditions. Similar to the definition of a calorie (the amount of energy it takes to heat 1ml of water 1 degree C), firewood can be measured in the amount of marshmallow and chocolate it can melt.

The making of a S’more consists of heating a marshmallow to a sufficient temperature to be 1. crispy and lightly browned on the outside, 2. hot and melted on the inside and 3. capable of melting half the mass of two squares of Hershey’s chocolate (such that the chocolate is neither still cold, nor melting off of the graham cracker onto one’s hand) previously kept at room temperature (70 degrees F).


Examples:

Small twig from living tree: .2 S’mores

Medium-sized stick from dead tree: 2 S’mores

Log from moss-covered dead tree in the forest: 24 S’mores

Log from well-seasoned, dry woodpile kept under cover: 37 S’mores


Elaborations: Ideal conditions here are a wind and rain-free day, and using a firepit or barbeque primed for a fire.

Firewood should be imagined as instantly catching fire and burning at perfect S’more-making temperatures; see separate scale for how good firewood would be at kindling a fire initially, as this scale describes only pure burning power.