The tree lighter than a matchstick, used abroad to build aircraft, yet in China made into thermos stoppers

The world has rich and varied forest resources, and forest tree species are extremely diverse, and forest trees are useful in many aspects of production and daily life. With the progress and development of science and technology, these trees have also played an even greater role. Today I will introduce a kind of tree, known as one of the lightest trees in the world; even a 3-year-old child can lift its wood. This tree has many uses, and whether abroad or in other countries, it is indispensable.

This tree is called balsa, commonly known as balsa wood. It is called balsa wood because it is very light in weight. Although it is light, balsa is one of the fastest-growing trees in the world, able to grow five or six meters in a single year, a growth rate that ordinary trees cannot reach. Balsa is a species originally native to the tropical regions of South America. Its leaves are heart-shaped, and its flowers are quite large, generally growing at the very top of the tree. At equal mass, balsa weighs less than a matchstick, because most matchsticks in China are made from poplar wood, which is more than 3 times heavier than balsa.

It is the lightest tree in the world, and an ordinary woman can easily carry balsa. It is precisely because of these characteristics that balsa is now being used in many fields, and farmers have also begun to grow it in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China. Dry balsa has a very low specific gravity, so balsa is used to make life jackets. Balsa does not warp and is dimensionally stable, and it is this unique characteristic that has allowed balsa to shine abroad in aerospace materials (sandwich panels). The first balsa grown in China was originally intended for aircraft materials, but this did not succeed in the 1970s, and later, to avoid waste, it was made into thermos stoppers.

The characteristics of dry balsa do not stop there: balsa can both soundproof and insulate, which has given balsa a certain place in furniture as well. Balsa is now used in many fields, and it is because people discovered these uses and the demand for balsa that they began to grow it to meet market demand. Many farmers now gain great economic value from growing balsa, because balsa grows very fast and is very easy to keep alive, so the cost of growing it is not high.

I really never imagined that such a wood exists in the world. Trees always feel so heavy, yet unexpectedly there is also a kind of balsa wood. Moreover, balsa has now begun to enter people's lives, and next its value will be discovered even more in daily life. This is such a magical balsa wood. Have you ever seen it? What other uses of balsa do you know?