whats the difference between a forest and a 'wood'?

Answer 1

Following are the dictionary meanings of the two words

1) Forest== i)A dense growth of trees, plants, and underbrush covering a large area.

ii)Something that resembles a large, dense growth of trees, as in density, quantity, or profusion: a forest of skyscrapers.

iii)A defined area of land formerly set aside in England as a royal hunting ground.


2 ) Wood === i )A dense growth of trees or underbrush covering a relatively small or confined area. Often used in the plural.

ii)A forest. Often used in the plural. ( I went in the woods )

So it depends upon the fact that in what contest you use it .

One thing is certain , A wood is smaller than a forest

Answer 2

There is a distinct difference between a forest and a woodland - and it is all to do with the density of the tree canopy. A woodland (found across northern Europe, for instance) has up to 40% canopy cover, which means that quite a lot of light still reaches the ground beneath the canopy. This means that grass, heath or scrub communities are able to develop beneath. In a forest, however, the trees grow much closer together, creating a canopy cover of anything from 60% to 100%. Very little light is able to reach the forest floor, so that the forest floor does not have much vegetation, and seeds lay dormant waiting for a tree to fall and create a gap in the canopy. A good example of a forest is a rainforest, and while northern Europe has a significant amount of deciduous woodland, it does not have any forest. Also, in case your son comes with a follow up question - a 'jungle' is a tropical rainforest (there are temperate rainforests, which while technically forests, are not 'jungles')

Answer 3

Not much difference at all. One's an old English word, the others Latin.

Wood: a dense growth of trees usually greater in extent than a grove and smaller than a forest

Etymology: Middle English wode, from Old English widu.

Forest:
1 : a dense growth of trees and underbrush covering a large tract
2 : a tract of wooded land in England formerly owned by the sovereign and used for game

Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin forestis (silva) unenclosed (woodland), from Latin foris outside

Answer 4

There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria . These plant communities cover large areas of the globe and function as animal habitats, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers, constituting one of the most important aspects of the Earth's biosphere.Although often thought of as carbon dioxide sinks, mature forests are approximately carbon neutral with only disturbed and young forests acting as carbon sinks .Nonetheless mature forests do play an important role in the global carbon cycle as stable carbon pools, and clearance of forests leads to an increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Wood is a solid material derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. Wood from the latter is only produced in small sizes, reducing the diversity of uses.

In its most common meaning, "wood" is the secondary xylem of a woody plant, but this is an approximation only: in the wider sense, wood may refer to other materials and tissues with comparable properties.

Wood is a heterogeneous, hygroscopic, cellular and anisotropic material. Wood is composed of fibers of cellulose (40%–50%) and hemicellulose (15%–25%) held together by lignin (15%–30%).

Answer 5

As far as I know a forest is a big wood.A small wood is a copse.

Answer 6

A wood is a large spinney. A forest is a very large copse.

Answer 7

a forest is much larger can be miles longer.....
a wood is just a small wooded area

Answer 8

nobody lives in a wood

Robin Hood lived in a forest

Answer 9

Forest are more beaitful and woods are more scary settings like in the blair witch

Answer 10

I think a forest is just bigger