Have you ever wondered why dinosaurs were so big?
One of the most enduring mysteries about the dinosaurs is their massive size, with the largest dinosaurs weighing several times the mass of the largest Elephant. It wasn't just dinosaurs that were massive on the ancient Earth, there were giant crocodiles, insects and plants that were all much larger than we would expect. In this world of giants all life appears shifted towards a larger size.
One of the most enduring mysteries about the dinosaurs is their massive size, with the largest dinosaurs weighing several times the mass of the largest Elephant. It wasn't just dinosaurs that were massive on the ancient Earth, there were giant crocodiles, insects and plants that were all much larger than we would expect. In this world of giants all life appears shifted towards a larger size.
Calculations indicate that dinosaurs’ bones, muscles and ligaments were too weak to support such massive animals - unless something dramatic had changed. In 1987, I realized my engineering knowledge of scale effects on structures revealed a startling answer to this mystery of the dinosaurs’ massive size - an ancient reduced gravity.
A reduced gravity would make life lighter, so all land-based life could increase in scale with seemingly weak bones, muscles and ligaments. A reduced gravity explains life's large size during the dinosaurs' time.
This theory allowed me to calculate that dinosaurs' gravity would need to be about half the present force of gravity to explain their large size – a truly astonishing conclusion.
Among a number of possible reasons I considered for this reduced gravity was the prospect that the ancient Earth was much smaller in diameter and mass to create a Reduced Gravity Earth. At first it seemed unlikely that the ancient Earth could have been so small during the dinosaurs’ time, but I soon discovered that a number of geologists had already proposed that the ancient Earth was smaller in diameter, later expanding over hundreds of millions of years until it reached its present size. Their reasoning had nothing to do with dinosaurs: it was based purely on geological evidence. This is commonly known as the Expanding Earth theory and some geologists are still promoting and refining this theory today.
Based on their geological evidence the geologists propose that the ancient Earth was about the same size predicted by the Reduced Gravity Earth. Both theories predict the same astonishing conclusion using completely different reasoning and evidence.
I published all these conclusions the first edition of my book, Dinosaurs and the Expanding Earth, and the original concepts in the book have now received praise and support from a number of people. The book was most recently updated for a third edition in 2011 and is widely available.
This web site is an additional resource to the book and allows a convenient method to provide other useful information, like suggestions for further reading and the latest information.
Stephen Hurrell
Updated 30Dec12
A reduced gravity would make life lighter, so all land-
This theory allowed me to calculate that dinosaurs' gravity would need to be about half the present force of gravity to explain their large size – a truly astonishing conclusion.
Among a number of possible reasons I considered for this reduced gravity was the prospect that the ancient Earth was much smaller in diameter and mass to create a Reduced Gravity Earth. At first it seemed unlikely that the ancient Earth could have been so small during the dinosaurs’ time, but I soon discovered that a number of geologists had already proposed that the ancient Earth was smaller in diameter, later expanding over hundreds of millions of years until it reached its present size. Their reasoning had nothing to do with dinosaurs: it was based purely on geological evidence. This is commonly known as the Expanding Earth theory and some geologists are still promoting and refining this theory today.
Based on their geological evidence the geologists propose that the ancient Earth was about the same size predicted by the Reduced Gravity Earth. Both theories predict the same astonishing conclusion using completely different reasoning and evidence.
I published all these conclusions the first edition of my book, Dinosaurs and the Expanding Earth, and the original concepts in the book have now received praise and support from a number of people. The book was most recently updated for a third edition in 2011 and is widely available.
This web site is an additional resource to the book and allows a convenient method to provide other useful information, like suggestions for further reading and the latest information.
Stephen Hurrell
Updated 30Dec12
“A reduced gravity explains the dinosaurs’ large size”