Tim Meyer Jr., age 14, of Nashville, Tenn., for his question:

HOW MUCH FIREWOOD IS IN A CORD?

Cord is a unit for measuring firewood. It is commonly defined as a pile of wood that measures four feet wide, four feet high and eight feet long. A stack of firewood this size contains 128 cubic feet.

Because fireplaces are smaller today than they were back in the olden days, wood dealers sometimes sell what they call a "face cord." This is the same height and length as a cord, but it measures only two feet wide. Actually, this is more properly called one half a cord.

A cord foot of wood, measuring four feet wide, four feet high and one foot wide, comes out to 16 cubic feet.

Another standard wood measurement is the board foot. A board foot is one foot wide, one foot long and one inch thick. This comes out to 144 cubic inches.