#square-cube law

[littlescaryinternetguy]

Please sir, did you force god to ban the square cube law while you were up there? Are we free? Will god at least reconsider?

I want to hold a tiny so gently and lovingly but I can’t >:(

Mam'selle, there's nothing tinies want more than to be held so gently and lovingly, unless it's the ability to summon from thin air a perfectly prepared Reuben sandwich. But maybe that's just me! In any case, here's what happened when I found God.

First of all, They were asleep, which: figures.

"Yo! God!" "CHECK'S IN THE MAIL!" They said, launching themself behind the couch. "It's me you dork." "Well I told you, check's in the mail." They poked their head out. "God, we've got some business to settle." "This is about the fucking square-cube law, isn't it." They stood up, brushing the dust bunnies from their robe. "This is about the fucking square-cube law." "Look, how many times have I got to tell you: I know what I'm doing." "Uh huh. Are we getting into theodicy again? Because I told you..." But They had a head of steam up. "4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?" They said, thundering. "Why are you saying the verse numbers," I asked. "Have you got a coke or something? I'm parched." "19 Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? 20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible." "Aren't you supposed to be speaking to me from a whirlwind?" "Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will... what whirlwind." "You're supposed to be speaking to me from a whirlwind if we're doing the whole 'where were you when I created the world' thing. Instead we're in your living room and it smells like mustard in here. And what the fuck? Horse nostrils?" "Have you ever looked at horse nostrils?" "I, you... yeah, I've looked at... I've looked at that shit! Some." "Uh huh. In any case, just... trust the plan." "The plan." "You know. The ineffable..." They snapped Their fingers. "The thing. The pizzazz. Just trust Me, alright?" "Fuckin... horse nostrils. Do You listen to Yourself?" "That's your job," They said, reaching for the bong. My point is, I tried. In the meantime, all we have is the wonder of your stories... the beauty of the pictures you paint and sketch and daub onto the walls of the cave with red clay and ochre... and of course, weird niche ASMR videos.

[obsessivelooter]

Type shit I love from Reddit

[maa-pix]

This mathematically underscores the principle that bigger (or smaller) is not just more (or less) but is fundamentally different. Things don't always (usually don't) scale.

My favorite example of this is the fact that we'll never see nature produce insects the size of elephants. Why? Because the mass of a creature goes up by volume (x^3) whereas the load-carrying capacity of a leg (structural column) goes up by cross sectional area (x^2). So if you double the size of a creature its mass goes up by a factor of eight but its leg strength only goes up by a factor of four, and so is half as strong relative to the size of the animal. To address this, nature makes legs thicker and chunkier as animals get bigger. That's why ants have these little, spindly legs and elephants have tree-trunk-like legs. Bigger isn't just more, it's different.

[so-very-small]

“well the square cube law-“ I’m done listening. I’ve stopped. it’s over. I’ve lived here for years. I fought in the g/t trenches. I was there for Downsizing. for the fandom mass twitter exodus of 2018. I built my home here. in this world of extreme height difference. and you come to me, in my gay size website home, and you say “square cube”? you say “giants would move and talk slowly”? begone. get out of my sight, vile and wicked thing. we dream about swift giants and worlds without giant bugs here. I spit on your realism. my giants are so fucking fast.

[clown-friend-gt]

Up, Up, and Away: Chapter 4

At the rate I'm writing right now, I should be able to put out two chapters a week. I'll be sure to let you all know if that changes.

There's a bit of worldbuilding in this one. I might make a post lining out any lore stuff that pops up in chapters that I'll update as time goes on

Link to Masterpost

************************************************************************

Guinea Pig

2.6k words

(CW: Medical stuff, needles)

As unhelpful as his counselor had been, Trevor did end up calling the number he gave him. He told them all about the problems he’d been having, and they’d scheduled a time for him to visit the institute. They had to run some tests before they could offer him any sort of answers.

So that was how he ended up crammed into his mom’s car early one Saturday morning, headed to the institute’s facilities on the edge of town. Her mid-sized sedan had never felt small to him before. But now, even with the seat moved all the way back, his legs were cramping up by the end of the thirty-minute drive.

The institute’s campus was huge, like a small town in and of itself. The map they’d sent him showed that the buildings were split into three groups: Education, Research, and Enforcement. The place they were headed to seemed to be in the research category.

Trevor got out of the car as soon as his mom was parked, not even waiting for her to turn it off. He stretched his arms above his head, trying to relieve some of the cramping. His too-small shirt raised up as he did, exposing his stomach. He quickly pulled it back down, embarrassed.

“¿Estás nervioso, mijo?” his mom asked him as she got out of the car.

“Un poco,” he answered. She came up to him and patted him on the arm.

“No te preocupes,” she assured him. “Ready to head inside?”

He shrugged and began walking in that direction. His mom joined him, but he quickly outpaced her. She picked up her own pace, but still struggled to keep up.

“Lento, lento,” she chided him. He looked down and realized she was having trouble keeping up with him.

“Sorry,” he replied, slowing down to match her pace instead.

He was almost three feet taller than her now, making them an odd duo. Whenever they walked together, it was always a little awkward. Either she had to walk uncomfortably fast, or he had to walk uncomfortably slow. Trevor usually chose the latter.

The building they were headed towards was sleek, white, and modern-looking, with plenty of windows lining the front. Trevor sped up slightly so he could hold the door open for his mom. Then he ducked in himself.

The front of the building had a grand looking waiting room with lots of benches and fake plants. This room was open all the way to the ceiling, and you could see the edges of the floors above. People milled about on the railed walkways, going in and out of the doors that lined them.

From a desk at the back of the room, a receptionist looked up. He stared openly at Trevor as he and his mom approached. Trevor tried not to let it show how uncomfortable that made him.

“Hi, he has an appointment at 10:00?” his mom told the man at the desk.

“Uh…” the man blinked a few times, before shaking his head and turning his attention to the monitor in front of him.

“What’s your name?” the receptionist asked him after typing on his computer.

“Trevor Castillo,” he said. The man clicked his mouse a few times, then gave him a generic smile.

“Alright, they’ll call you in when they’re ready for you.”

His mom nodded at the receptionist and turned to find somewhere to sit. She sat down on a bench, and patted the spot next to her, gesturing for Trevor to sit. He gave the bench a wary look, then chose to sit on the floor in front of it instead. He heard his mom sigh behind him.

The waiting room was empty, save for the two of them. He waited on his phone for a while, squinting to see what was on the too-small screen. Then he felt a tapping on his shoulder.

He looked down to see his mom looking over at him.

“You okay?” she asked.

He gave her a tight smile and nodded. “Fine.”

She nodded back, satisfied. Then she went back to whatever she’d been doing on her own phone.

After maybe ten minutes, a door opened at the other end of the room. Standing there was a woman in a lab coat. She had a clipboard in her hand and a stethoscope around her neck.

“Trevor?” she called, looking in his direction. He and his mom stood up and walked over to her. She held up a hand to stop his mom in her tracks.

“I’ll have to ask you to wait here,” she told her.

His mom frowned. “I’m his mother.”

“I understand that, but we have a lot to get done today, and it’s better that you wait here during today’s tests.”

His mom looked like she wanted to argue, but he stopped her before she could.

“I’ll be fine,” he told her.

His mom looked between him and the woman before them, then sighed.

“Alright. See you soon,” she said. She shot the woman one last careful look, then headed back into the waiting room.

“My name is Dr. Stone. Please follow me,” the lady said, then turned and walked briskly down the hall. He followed soon after.

“What kind of tests are you doing?” he asked her after a while.

“We’ll start with a standard check-up, read your vital signs and all that,” she answered without looking at him.

“Then we’ll do some more advanced testing, your speed, your strength, et cetera.” She waved her free hand in the air as she spoke.

“Finally, we’ll do some blood work, and discuss next steps.” Around that time, they arrived at the right door, and she waved him into the standard-looking examination room.

Everything started out normally, just like she’d said. She asked him a series of questions, like when this all started, what he was experiencing, and he answered as best as he could.

“And last question, any concerns you’d like to share?” She held her pen above the paper, ready to take notes.

Trevor had plenty of concerns. He opened his mouth to speak, but struggled with where to start, how much to say. Finally, he landed on one question.

“When does it stop?” he asked her.

She looked up from her clipboard. “When does it stop?” she repeated.

“Yeah like—when does this,” he gestured to himself, “stop? Will I stop growing anytime soon?”

Dr. Stone paused for a long time. Finally, she set the pen and the clipboard aside, lacing her fingers together and leaning forward.

“How much do you know about the functions of superpowers?” she asked him.

“Wha—?” Trevor had no idea where to begin answering that question. Dr. Stone seemed to spot his confusion.

“Let me rephrase. Are you familiar with the three classes of superpowers?”

“Um—no,” he answered honestly.

She nodded. “For classification purposes, we scientists tend to think about superpowers in terms of three groups.

“One,” she indicated with one finger, “Emanation. Those that can spontaneously create and control a substance. Like, for example, have you ever heard of the hero Wildfire?”

Trevor shook his head.

“Right, he might have been a bit before your time. He had the ability to control fire, which is a classic Emanation style ability.”

“Two,” she continued, “is Initiation, which involves an attribute that can be activated or deactivated at will. Like Lightspeed.”

Trevor nodded. He had heard of Lightspeed, who was a popular hero in his city who had the power of superspeed.

“Last is Alteration, which is less of an ability and more of a transformation. If you’ve ever heard of the minor hero Seraph, the one with the avian-like wings, his powers are Alteration based.”

Trevor was following along for the most part. But he didn’t quite understand what this all had to do with his question.

Dr. Stone continued her explanation. “One of the things we’ll try and determine today is what class of ability you have. From what I can tell already, it’s most likely not Emanation. That leaves us with Initiation and Alteration.”

“So what does that mean?” he asked her.

“In simpler terms, we’re going to figure out if this is something you can ‘turn off’ or not,” she used air quotes for the last bit.

“If it’s an Initiation type ability you’re using subconsciously, you may be able to control it.”

That certainly put Trevor’s mind at ease somewhat. “Would I be able to go back to normal?”

“It’s possible, and the Lively Institute would certainly be willing to assist in that process.”

Before he could get his hopes up, she finished talking. “But, if it’s an Alteration type ability, that chance goes down significantly.”

Trevor frowned. “But there’s a chance, right?”

Dr. Stone hesitated before answering. “Possibly.”

Trevor mulled it over for a bit.

“And if it’s Alteration, then I’m stuck like this?”

She sighed. “I wouldn’t use those words exactly. After activation, the process of Alteration can take anywhere from several months to a few years to complete. Only then is any sort of reversal possible, depending on the severity of the transformation.”

Trevor was silent for a while. She’d given him a lot to think about.

“Are you ready for testing?” she finally asked him.

Trevor sighed, then nodded. “Fine. Let’s do this.”

************************************************************************

The tests started easily enough. She measured his heart rate, his blood pressure, his height, his weight, normal doctor’s office stuff. Trevor had been worried that they wouldn’t have any tools that would work with his size, but Dr. Stone seemed to have prepared everything for him.

Then she led him to another room that had what looked like workout equipment. They used a treadmill to measure his speed and endurance. Unlike before, none of the equipment was sized for him, which made things a bit difficult. He nearly tripped several times before he got the hang of running on the too-small treadmill.

His speed was slightly above average, which was to be expected with his longer legs. His endurance was a little below average. He wasn’t athletic in the slightest, so that wasn’t really a surprise either.

He expected similar results when Dr. Stone tested his strength. They used a bench press, and he had an easier time with it than he’d expected. Despite the fact that he was still as skinny as he’d always been, Trevor could bench over five hundred pounds.

When he expressed his surprise, Dr. Stone offered him an explanation.

“Superpowers put a lot of stress on the human body. Although most people with superpowers have only one real ‘power,’ which we call their ‘primary ability,’ they usually have certain ��adaptations’ to help their body cope.

“Because your body is much larger than average, you need to be stronger in order to support the weight of your own body.”

Then she tried to explain something called the “Square-Cube Law,” to him, but that went right over his head. All he really understood was that because he was bigger, that meant he was stronger too.

The last few tests were strange. The second to last thing they did was attach some electrodes to his head so they could scan his brainwaves. He just had to sit there while Dr. Stone watched the attached screen for about ten minutes.

Then she took some of his blood. That wasn’t the weird part. He’d had his blood drawn before without much issue, but this time, the doctor seemed to have a bit of trouble puncturing his skin with the needle. After a moment, with a small grunt of effort, she managed to force the needle in and draw enough blood for her tests.

“Just wait there while I take this for testing,” she told him before she left the room. “We’ll discuss your results when I get back.”

************************************************************************

Dr. Stone brought Ms. Castillo back to her office so they could all talk about Trevor’s results and their next steps. She didn’t have a chair big enough for him, so he sat on the floor in front of her desk. She felt a little bad, but he didn’t seem to have any trouble seeing over the desk.

“First things first,” she said, looking at the results of his brainwave scan, “Our testing seems to indicate that your ability is an Alteration type, rather than Initiation.”

Trevor’s shoulders sagged. His mother watched his reaction with concern.

“I don’t understand,” she said, turning to Dr. Stone. “What does that mean?”

Dr. Stone gave an explanation of the superpower classification system to Trevor’s mother, much like the one she’d given him.

“It means they can’t stop what’s happening to me,” Trevor summed up, eyes on the ground.

His mom placed a hand on his shoulder. “Trevor, it doesn’t matter how much you change. I’ll always be here to take care of you.”

He didn’t look up. “You say that, but you can’t keep buying clothes for me every week, or buying more and more food for me. I know you’re struggling.”

Ms. Castillo drew her lips into a fine line, glancing at Dr. Stone.

“Do we know if these…changes will stop or slow down any time soon?” she asked.

Dr. Stone shuffled through her papers. “It’s too early to say for sure. Right now, his bloodstream is flooded with growth hormones, and without any other data to compare to, there’s no telling if that will change any time soon.”

Ms. Castillo frowned, then shook her head. “No me importa. We’ll figure something out, mijo.”

She patted Trevor’s shoulder, but he stayed silent. Dr. Stone took that as her opportunity to continue.

“As for assistance the Lively Institute can provide, there are a few options.”

She opened one of her desk’s drawers and took out a brochure for the Future Heroes Training Program. On the front was a picture of one of the city’s top heroes, Ajax, smiling with a group of teenagers who wore the program’s uniform. She placed the brochure on top of the desk in front of the two.

“Your best option would be to join the Future Heroes Training Program. In addition to an education from a variety of experts in the field, all students receive housing, meals, and other accommodations based on their specific needs. The Lively Institute considers this an investment in the future, so there is no cost.”

Trevor didn’t seem too interested, but his mother nodded eagerly as she spoke. Dr. Stone was encouraged to give this pitch to any unaffiliated patients she saw, but it was genuinely a good option for those who needed extra help living with their powers. She hoped Trevor was listening closer than he seemed to be.

“I’ve had many patients go through the program and it’s really helped them to get a better handle on their powers, as well as providing them with a unique future career.”

Ms. Castillo looked like she had questions, but Trevor spoke up first.

“What are my other options?” he asked.

Dr. Stone paused, slightly taken aback at his complete lack of interest in the program.

“Outside of this program, the assistance the Lively Institute can provide you with is quite limited,” she told him.

“Which means?” he prompted.

“Well, it would depend on your case,” she said, looking through her notes again.

“For instance, based on your previous concerns, we could provide food and clothing options to suit your specific needs.”

“How is that different from what you just said?” his mom asked.

“These options would be—” she struggled to find the right words, then sighed. “—for lack of a better term—cheaper. I don’t know if the quality would be up to the standards you’re used to.”

“That’s fine,” Trevor answered quickly.

“Trevor,” Ms. Castillo said, her tone a warning.

The two exchanged some words in Spanish that Dr. Stone couldn’t parse. It sounded like an argument, but she couldn’t be sure.

Finally, the conversation ended with a heavy sigh from Ms. Castillo.

“We’ll go with the second option for now,” she told the doctor.

“Alright,” Dr. Stone answered, a little nervous about the tension she now sensed.

“I’ll send you to your Patient Advocate to discuss those details further,” she told them.

She stood up to walk the pair over. Trevor left the room in a hurry. Ms. Castillo hesitated for a minute, before grabbing the brochure off the table and walking out after him.

First/Last/Next

[king-of-men]

No wait, it's not that simple! A duck has a very different Bauplan from a horse; it's not at all obvious that a horse-sized duck puts out 131.2 times the power of a regular duck even though the horse/duck power ratio is 131.2. There's such a thing as the square-cube law! A horse-sized duck would have very thin legs relative to its body - it might well collapse under its own weight. Actually, do those honeycombed bird bones, very strong for their weight but not strong in an absolute sense, even support a horse-sized creature? And there are similar objections to scaling down the horse, just more subtle. The gallop gait relies on the sheer mechanical motion of the chest helping to activate the lungs; do the fluid mechanics scale down correctly? The heart is suddenly vastly overpowered; it no longer needs to push blood down very long legs and back up again. Stroke, heart failure? Better stay tuned, because this duck-sized horse sure isn't.

In case you were wondering

[pocket-lad]

Do normal people regularly think about the square-cube law

[ultimatecubetournament]

round 1 (side A):

Square-cube law (mathematics) vs The black cube of darkness (Wander Over Yonder)

square-cube law:

was in the original concept post + i want it to die. badly

the black cube of darkness:

The Black Cube may be a minor side character in the Disney show Wander Over Yonder but also a very relatable fellow. Other then the fact he can chant in some demonic backwards latin and take peoples souls later in the show he just wants to live his life so he quits villainy. He has a whole episode about him trying to live a normal life and how everyone's still afraid of him or taunting him and he almost cracks to. Also he has a really catchy song that plays in the episode called "Just a little black cube of darkness"

He was a villain but actually he was just a depressed little cube. He's doing better now so he's not a villain anymore.

[bestcubebracket]

No Witty Connections

Square-Cube Law: In marvel canon pym particles just straight up ignore this. like not even metatextually this is literally canonically stated

Minecraft: remember shadow of israphel?

Bracket

[gt-daboss]

the famous battle of the ages, who will win? the Square Cube Law, or GT Enthusiasts? idk could go either way :P

Been thinking of using this format with this meme for a while! finally got it on paper, as always, comments and critiques appreciated!

[coffehbeans]

Rule #1 of g/t worldbuilding

Find the square cube law, then find a way to break it apart, tear it to pieces muahaha, HAHAHAHA

[xeno-bio-sociology]

Trying to answer the question; how big could trolls get before their body plans had to significantly diverge from humanoid (assuming psychic powers don’t support them against gravity) and what would they end up looking like? From what my research has uncovered, human maximum is a little less than nine feet and that leaves you really fragile. Tougher bones, skin, and circulatory system could probably knock it up to a healthy nine feet without making them look too non-humanoid, but when you get into the giant highbloods, they’d need thicker legs, deeper ribcages, possibly multiple hearts or at least strong valves in the blood vessels, and something like long shock-absorbing arms for catching themselves to mitigate the vulnerability to falling damage, which is why gorillas are quadrupedal - which, come to think of it, makes perfect sense with how GHB is usually drawn with yaoi hands. Not sure how big they’d get before they were no longer functionally bipedal though. Tailed trolls might have the tail grow much stronger and thicker, like a ground sloth’s, for support at the back? Feet would probably not be human-foot-shaped anymore. T-rex feet or elephant feet might work? A fifteen-foot troll would also probably weigh about three thousand pounds, so there’s mass to consider, and for proportional horns they’d need ludicrous amounts of calcium but they’re carnivores so they don’t have the issue elephants do with getting enough. Am I missing anything that needs taking into account?

[transingthoseformers]

wait a minute. Silverlight is tiny, and doesn't have much pokey kibble right?

Wrap the sparkling in a blanket. It's armor is soft and not as liable to catch on fabric as adult Cybertronian plating would be. Also, Silver by the square cube law would have much poorer heat retention. Fluffy blankets and thermal blankets may not just be cute and possible, but necessary and medic recommended (as well as being close to a much bigger body that naturally runs hotter and keeps this heat longer)

[yamchaisawesome]

Yeah you’d think that due to the shitty air the bugs would actually get *smaller*

Presented a panel on fallout creatures at a con today and used my biology degree to validate and criticize design choices in equal measure

[writing-prompt-s]

"You're not going to take up the usual tools of combat, like bows or swords, to defeat the Dark Lord?" "No. I was an engineer on Earth, and now I find myself isekai'd to a place where I'm not bound by limitations like the square-cube law or thermodynamics. I'm gonna make some REAL weird shit!"