MovieChat Forums > Land of the Giants (1968) Discussion > Square Cube Law

Square Cube Law

posted 10 years ago by mgordonb
11 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed this show as a kid. And still find it mildly entertaining. But as a child I always thought something was wrong. The little people answered to a different law of physics than the giants. I told myself that either the little people should move faster or the giants should lumber around sluggish like dinosaurs.

I now realize what was bothering me: The Sqaure Cube Law. I'd never heard of it when I was seven. But it dictates that the giants would be extremely weak or the little people would be super strong (like an ant).

I hope other physics geeks will appreciated childhood ponderings!

[–] SpiltPersonality 8 years ago

Whilst true to a certain extent, a 'giant' would still be stronger than a 'little person'. If you wish to argue with me, there is a bull elephant at your local zoo who'd I'd love to introduce you to :).

The point being that yes a 'giant' may be proportionally weaker than a 'little person' (i.e. would not be able to lift x times the weight a little person could lift despite being x times as massive) they would certainly be able to lift MORE.

Otherwise mice would not be frightened of us at all :)

[–] DrakeStraw 8 years ago

... there is a bull elephant at your local zoo who'd I'd love to introduce you to ...

Funny you should mention elephants--they suffer a great deal from the effects of the square-cube law. They are unable to jump due to their massive weight. They cannot survive falls that humans can easily overcome. An elephant can be confined by a ditch less than two feet deep. Elephants know their own limitations and will not try to cross.

I am turned off by any monster shows that apparently violate the square-cube law, so one episode of LotG was enough for me. Gravity on the planet would have to be much less than the little people are experiencing for them to coexist with the giants.

DrakeStraw
LinkLikeThis
[link=SeeMarkupEnabled]

[–] Munstrum_Ridcully 8 years ago

I too pondered over this as a child and came to two possible conclusions
1
The Giants world was normal sized and the "little people" has shrunk when they passed through the dimensional rift, however they retained their normal proportional strength as the laws of physic were a divergent from the norm in the new parallel world.
2
As in Stephen King's "the langoliers" the travels in to the new world brought their own physics with them, the Giants were not crushed under their own weight and size because they were subject to laws of physics that were normal for them in their world, the little people were still subject to their own physics which were carried in their bodies and the Spindrift in to the new world.

Just my thoughts

Atheism is a religion in the same way that celibacy is a sexual position

[–] shemp56 8 years ago

You should remember that they are in a parallel universe which may not have the same laws of physics as our universe.

[–] creatorof2002 7 years ago

I have watched YouTube videos about the square cube law. Videos about how giant japanese monsters like Godzilla could not function and if a person got too big the heart would not be able to get their blood circulated etc.

And in sci fi there are giant insects (starship troopers for example or "them") and in real life the body of an insect could not function if it was human sized.

I intuitively could tell that it would not work as a child even before I learned the science of it.

[–] fcabanski 7 years ago

Ah the weekend scientists.

The giants in LotG were 12x larger than humans. That would make them around 72 feet tall and around a ton in weight.

Brachiosaurus was 85 feet long and weighed 80-88 tons.

BTW, in the earliest made episodes the giants did move slow. They were slowed down to appear sluggish compared to the humans.

[–] laplante-co-672-297856 7 years ago

A ton in weight?

A 180 lb man scaled up by a factor of 12 would weigh:

180 x 12 x 12 x 12 = 311,040 lbs = 155 tons.

Weight increases as the cube of the factor.

[–] DrakeStraw 7 years ago

Weight increases as the cube of the factor.

Which explains why the BMI (Body Mass Index) calculation is bogus. It uses a two-dimensional formula to compare three-dimensional objects. Here is a good explanation using examples from Gulliver's Travels.

http://randyschellenberg.tripod.com/anorexiatruthinfo/id19.html

DrakeStraw
http://randyschellenberg.tripod.com/anorexiatruthinfo/id19.html
[link=SeeMarkupEnabled]

[–] DeepFriedJello 7 years ago

So, was the giants planet 12 times the size of Earth, or more Earth-size?
If 12 times the size and therefore 12x12x12 or 1728 times the mass of Earth, the gravity would be tremendous and crush the little guys. If the planet were a similar size as Earth, the little guys would be fine, but the giants would be bouncing around. No? Can you imagine living on a planet with a diameter under 700 miles? 1000 feet altitude the air would be getting thin. Highest peak just over 2000 feet?

[–] DrakeStraw 7 years ago

If the planet were a similar size as Earth, the little guys would be fine, but the giants would be bouncing around. No?

No. They wouldn't be bouncing around at all. In fact they would be crushed by their own weight. The only way to explain the land of the giants is to imagine that the giants are much less dense than the little people. Only then could they coexist and act as they do. You would also have to explain why the giants have apparent normal strength.

DrakeStraw
LinkLikeThis
[link=SeeMarkupEnabled]

[–] scott-sw 7 years ago

I always thought about the gravity problem as well.
Something else that also bugged me is they would not be able to talk to the giants so easily. The giants would not be able to hear the little people's voices very well, or likely not at all. The proportion of CO2 expelling through tiny vocals cords would not produce sufficient sound waves to make the little people audible to the giants - even if they yelled. On the flip side, with huge lungs and vocal cords would produce sound waves deafening to the little people.