• Thornburywitch@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    2 days ago

    A question that’s been bothering me over the weekend. Have been utterly stumped by it, so asking here if anyone has clarification to offer.

    question

    How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood?

    I’ve been trying to figure how many kilos/grammes per metre but if you want to answer in pounds shillings and ounces that’s fine with me.

    • Force_majeure123@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      Not very much. Their arms are tiny. Average weight of woodchuck is 3.9kg. if we look at a human (agile, long arms comparitively), and perhaps use the weight of a hammer (like from hammer throw competition), which is 16kg, and AVG human weight in hammer throw… maybe 90kg? That’s gets us 17.7% of weight. Transfer to groundhogs that’s about 700g, BUT their short arms surely limit this a lot. I’ll say at least by 75%. Which leads to: 175g. A woodchuck could chuck 175g, if a woodchuck could chuck wood

        • Force_majeure123@aussie.zone
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 day ago

          Well jeez what if it was in outer space in zero gravity? It could chuck all the wood then - whether or not it ate vegemite for breakfast

      • TheWitchofThornbury2@aussie.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 day ago

        This pretty close to the best answer I came up with. BUT. Woodchucks are rodents, not monkey-ancestor brachiators like us. So their shoulder and arm assembly is geared to grip & gather, not swing and bear weight. So the ‘calculated’ answer I came up with was 35grams. Given the moment arm and leverage etc. Plus claws get in the way - woodchucks don’t have fingers/thumb for gripping like us. No doubt this question will continue to bother me.

        • Force_majeure123@aussie.zone
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 day ago

          You make some fair points. Perhaps only a 75% reduction was far too generous in hindsight. i think 35g is a bit too light though.these woodchucks are quite capable diggers. If you imagine it scooping up the wood in a digging fashion, perhaps flung betwixt its legs, I feel it could get a bit of power that way.

          • TheWitchofThornbury2@aussie.zone
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 day ago

            True. The initial question does not specify if the chuck in question is forward directed or rear directed. Damn questions that miss out on the most important info.

    • Pilk@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      2 days ago

      If gummy lollies were invented today, what shape would they have gone with if not snakes and red frogs?

    • CEOofmyhouse56@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago
      spoiler

      According to Google 700 pounds (317.5kg) so that’s probably wrong. 🤷‍♀️

      Do you have any other questions?

    • Rusty Raven @aussie.zoneM
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 days ago
      spoiler

      Its a bit hard to say, but they probably couldn’t eat more than a couple of hundred grams, so if you are looking at how much they can chuck up in one incident it would be limited to that. But wood isn’t part of their normal diet, so even if a woodchuck would chuck up wood it’s unlikely they could chuck up wood.