Calculations for a Wood Bridge to the Moon

How wide a bridge could we build using the trees we cut annually…

Let’s assume we’re cutting 5 billion trees a year (most conservative estimate) and the average trunk is 1 ft diam. x 30 ft long. and we attach them together (raft style) to make a bridge.

Distance to the moon: ~240,000 miles x 5,280 ft = 1,270,000,000 ft

# of trees cut each year: 5,000,000,000 (5 billion)

Average trunk size: 1 ft Diam. x 30 ft Long

Normal width of North American highway lanes: 12 ft

…………………………………………..

Number of 30’ long trunks (attached end to end) needed to reach the moon:

Distance (in feet) ÷ length of each trunk

1,270,000,000 ft ÷ 30 ft =

42,333,333 trunks needed to cover the distance (1’ wide segment)

Number of segments that can be assembled with all trees we cut:

Total # of trees cut per year ÷ # of trunks needed for one segment

5,000,000,000 ÷ 42,333,333 =

118 segments

@ 1 ft per segment, our bridge is 118 ft wide

Highway lanes are usually 12’ wide, so that’s 9.8 lanes (pretty darn close 10)

So, with all the trees we cut, we could build a 10 lane wide bridge to the moon, every single year..! Or we could build a 100 lane wide highway around the globe.