How Big Can a Person Get?
Why Worldbuilding Stack Exchange recommends it
Worldbuilding Stack Exchange users link it as a reference when answering questions about how large a creature or species can plausibly get, and what biology limits it.
Recommended by 0 people across 0 different months, 2015 to 2020.
What it is
A Vsauce explainer by Michael Stevens on the biological limits to human height, using record-holders like Robert Wadlow and Sultan Kosen as examples. It covers why bodies fail at extreme size, including the square-cube law, and touches on genetics and the tallest possible human.
What people said
Cites Paul92 · 2015-12 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “What is the right size for a technologically advanced species?”
I am aware of biological constraints to our size, such as the issues presented by Vsauce in this video [this video] . However, letting the biological factors aside, what is the perfect size for a technologically advanced species? There are some benefits to being small: materials are stronger, more abundant and the world is a bigger place. However, they might be harder to procure and process. Also, scientific exploration might be an issue. Note that the question refers to the size of one species on Earth, considering that everything remains the same (e.g. the size of trees). Later edit: The main point of the question is about the technology itself and the manufacturing process (e.g. if we had been
Cites Ty Conway · 2020-07 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “What would mammalian dinosaurs look like?”
How will the denser, heavier bone structure of mammals effect the mobility of these creatures? Organisms on Earth are constrained in their size by something called the square-cube law. Explained most simply with a cube: Dimensions: 1m x 1m x 1m (l x w x h) Surface area: 6m^2 Volume: 1m^3 Now multiply the size of the cube by 10: Dimensions: 10m x 10m x 10m (each 10x larger) Surface area: 600m^2 (100x larger) Volume: 1000m^3 (1000x larger) Since your C-rex is not going to be full of air, an increasing volume will greatly contribute to an increasing weight. The problem: volume grows much faster than surface area, and it's the cross-section of your surface area that is supporting all the weight
Cites Jafego · 2020-12 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “How fast can a large animal knuckle-walk?”
Gorillas weigh around 350 pounds (around 150 kg). If your giant gorilla has three times the mass and the same proportions, it would be around 1.4 (cube root of 3) times taller, standing at around seven feet tall. A very large gorilla was once shot that weighed over 600 pounds (270 kg) and was just over 6 feet tall, so a 1000 pound gorilla is not such a huge stretch. Gorillas can usually run at 25 mph (40kph). Larger species of similar animals tend to move faster, e.g. the African Elephant is faster than the smaller Indian Elephant. If your giant gorilla is part of a species of gorilla that is larger than normal gorillas, it will probably move a little bit faster, perhaps around 30 or 35 mph