Firewood
Wood was the primary heating fuel used by Soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Soldiers received a ration of one-half of a cord of wood per room per day. Officers had better quarters than enlisted men. A Colonel, for example, would have two rooms, while twelve enlisted men would share one room. In the Philadelphia region of Pennsylvania, the Continental Army provided wood for heating for a period of 26 weeks out of the year.
Elementary School Questions:
1. If a cord of wood measures 8 feet across, 4 feet deep, and 4 feet high, what is the volume of a cord of wood in cubic feet and cubic yards?
2. Use the information above to figure out how many cords of woods 576 enlisted men will need to stay warm for 4 weeks. How many would they need for an entire 26 week winter season?
3. Pennsylvania temperatures are mild compared to what men from New York and New England were used to but cold enough for men living in tents or huts to need heat. Given this temperature chart for February, what are the mean, median and mode temperature for the month of February? What is the range in temperatures for the month of February? Create a Line plot (dot plot) to organize and represent the data.
(Chart follows)
Middle School Questions:
1. If 25 cords of wood will supply 600 men for one week, how many men will
48 cords of wood supply for the same period? Use proportions to solve this problem.
2. A camp started with 56 cords of wood. 25% of the wood has been used. How many cords of wood were used?
3. A group of enlisted men are allotted ½ a cord of wood a week for heating their one room cabin. The previous company of Soldiers left a surplus of 2 cords of wood. Create an equation in slope intercept form to model the situation.
High School Questions:
1. A General uses the same number of cords of wood each week. After five weeks in camp, he has used 7.5 cords of wood, and after 11 weeks he has used 16.5 cords of wood. Write an equation to model this arithmetic sequence.
2. Graph this situation and interpret the slope coefficient and the y-intercept.
3. Use your equation to predict the number of cords the General will need for 26 weeks. Calculate how many rooms the General occupied.
An answer key and list of relevant PA Educational Standards is available in the Museum Store inside the Visitor and Education center.
Funding for this sign provided by the G.B. Stuart Charitable Foundation.
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