Suppose you held a lighted match to a solid hunk of wood and another match to a pile of wood shavings. Which form of wood will catch fire more easily?

The pile of wood shavings will catch fire more easily than the solid hunk of wood. This is because the wood shavings have a larger surface area relative to their volume, allowing them to ignite more quickly when exposed to a flame. The smaller, thinner pieces of wood provide more exposure to oxygen and heat, which facilitates combustion. In contrast, the solid hunk of wood has a lower surface area-to-volume ratio, requiring more heat energy to reach the ignition temperature.