A New Spin
"I'm astounded by people who 'want' to know the universe
when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown."
-- Woody Allen
'What is this?'
-- The short answer:
It's an attempt to rationalize the existence of the giant dinosaurs
in the past, even though their past viability on earth is puzzling.
--The long answer:
This isn't the intention to introduce yet another theory for the demise
of the dinosaurs. Rather, it explores the past basic physical
parameters of the earth (not necessarily its environmental condition) that could enable animals, weighing some 100 ton, to thrive for millions of years. Inevitably, it will lead to conclusions about the dinosaurs' ultimate passing when these parameters suddenly changed, but that aspect is only secondary to the more fundamental question, namely: given their enormous size, what made it possible for these creatures to live and function on earth in the first place?
Not quite a "National Geographic" take
For the impatient:
Given what we know about the size and function of the various giant dinosaurs,
their existence in the past is far from trivial. Can an eight ton
predator -- twice as big as the African-Elephant -- stalk
and give chase to prey similar to how a lion or a tiger would?
(Apart from Jurassic Park III, that is.)
A simple analysis based on fundamental physics seems to suggest that nature sets a limit on how big animals can grow and, yet, remain viable on some hypothetically-existing planet of given size. Where animals maximum possible size is inversely proportional to their planet size (in other words, the larger the planet, the smaller are the animals on it).
This, in fact, refers to animals weight, rather than their sheer-size, which leads to an inescapable conclusion that these giant dinosaurs weight was way less, from what their size suggests, to enable them to endure on earth for millions of years.
An examination of the possible cause that may be responsible for that weight change leads to a conclusion that earth rotation on its axis is the only possible factor. The rotation speed must have been significant higher at that time than what it's at present. A faster rotation gave rise to much stronger centrifugal-force which opposed the force of gravity and, hence, reduced the, actual, animals weight.
(See also under
comments
why dinosaurs remained cold blooded and
how a bird, with 40 feet wingspan, could fly.)
Next: The
bigger they are ...
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