so i just learned that people make charcoal by putting wood in some container with little oxygen and build a fire around it. but why not just burn the wood directly, and take the leftovers?
im guessing some of the wood burns away if you aren’t using a container, so it’s less efficient, but if you’re in a forest with limitless wood it doesn’t really seem to be worth the effort when you can easily just create a bigger fire. another reason i can guess is that the charcoal you get from using a container is higher quality. if that is the case, why does it produce higher quality charcoal, and what does it mean for charcoal to be higher quality?
In: Chemistry
You’re basically taking wood and kickstarting the combustion process. You’re also taking little scraps of wood that would otherwise be useless and condensing them into usable fuel.
Charcoal making was a common thing for otherwise unemployed peasants to do in medieval Europe. You gather up a bunch of sticks from the forest and turn it into something that people can use.
Latest Answers