The Difference Between Hardwoods and Softwoods (I Swear, More Interesting Than It Sounds)

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by Super User, 7 years ago
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In this video:

Perhaps the most important and misunderstood aspect of defining wood as either hard or soft is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the individual qualities of the harvested wood itself. The most famous and oft used example of this concept is that of balsa wood which, despite being literally one of the least dense (and hence softest) woods of all, is technically classified as hardwood. Likewise, the wood of the yew tree, which is classified as being a softwood, is a great deal tougher than many hardwoods including several types of oak. So what’s going on here?

Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/05/surprising-truth-difference-hard-woods-soft-woods/

Sources:

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Hardwood_vs_Softwood
http://www.hoovedesigns.com/woods.html
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wood-density-d_40.html
http://ejmas.com/tin/2009tin/tinart_goldstein_0904.html
http://forestry.about.com/cs/treeid/f/Tree_ID_wood.htm
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=angiosperm
http://arboretum.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013-70-4-beyond-pine-cones-an-introduction-to-gymnosperms.pdf
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ADuToINdSQQC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=Paul+Hermann+angiosperm&source=bl&ots=syLvej-BBQ&sig=u4deqof1lwmcFAwDMid9KCmb7aQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UAvAVL6-GIOrU5WugaAJ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Paul%20Hermann%20angiosperm&f=false
http://dooblydo.com/2014/01/14/hardwoods-vs-softwoods-gabriel-janka-hardest-tree-world/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXGAOyQ-gwg