If you were giant, but everything around you was to scale physically

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the hypothetical scenario of a person becoming a giant while everything else in their environment scales proportionally. Participants explore the implications of this scaling on physical laws, perception, and biological limitations.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that if everything scales proportionally, physical laws would remain unchanged, leading to noticeable differences in experience.
  • Others question how scaling affects mass and weight, specifically whether the mass of the Earth would change if its size doubles.
  • A participant references a fictional scenario from a TV show to illustrate the concept humorously, indicating that scaling can be a topic of popular culture.
  • One participant mentions research on biological size limits, suggesting that larger beings would face challenges related to strength and structural integrity.
  • Another participant discusses Einstein's theory of relativity, arguing that if everything scales together, it becomes impossible to measure any changes, rendering the concept of size increase meaningless.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on whether scaling would lead to observable changes in physical experience. Some agree that physical laws would imply differences, while others argue that proportional scaling would negate the ability to perceive any changes.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved questions regarding the implications of scaling on mass, structural integrity, and the relativity of measurements. The discussion does not reach a consensus on these points.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may interest those exploring concepts in physics, relativity, and biological scaling, as well as fans of science fiction and popular culture references in science.

NikoBellic
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so that visually everything appeared the same, could you use physics (e.g. gravity or something) to prove that you and everything else is bigger than it was before?
 
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You need to better describe "everything" and how much it scales. When the Earth gets twice as big, does it get twice as heavy? Eight times? Stay the same?
 
I don't mean to derail, but I can't help myself.

This was brought up in a recent Big Bang Theory episode. Sheldon realizes everything is bigger because he's wearing size one million pants.

(Sorry, had to).
 
If physical laws stayed the same, you would notice a difference indeed.

Scientists have tried to estimate the height of biological beings (so in fact aliens that also walk shouldn't be much larger than we are :) )
http://arxiv.org/abs/0708.0573
I think they don't assume any specific dimension (like radius of earth), but just consider stuff like radiation of heat and breaking when falling.

I didn't go through the details, but in short: yes, you would notice a difference, if only dimensions but not physical forces change.
 
The strength of an object does not scale with its size...so yes, there would probably be a difference. You would not be able to walk without a lot of your bones breaking.
 
in Einstein's relativity,
he once thought that everything is relative.
for example,
if you were to grow larger, but the world remains the same, so your size increases relative with this world. all measurements are relative.
however, if the world is being enlarged together with you with the same factor, then how do you ever notice any changes?there is nothing that you can compare to, to show that you are increasing in size.
of course the increment is not simply just the increase of spaces between atoms etc, it means everything including the sizes of atoms and mass, so that you will never detect any changes.
so to say that this kind of measurement is meaningless.

that was one of the postulate in Einstein's relativity theory.
and of course the real case might not be the same as above, or if it is, we will never notice too.
and then Einstein showed that the only absolute/ non relative thing in this world is only the speed of light
 

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