• Question: why do we shrink throughout the day??

    Asked by roflatop to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 18 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      Hello roflatop! The answer is gravity!!! Over the course of a day, the gravitational force that keeps us bound to the Earth, also acts to compress the disks in our spin. Our own gravitational weight makes us slightly shorter at the end of the day than when we started. At night our spine expands as we sleep so we return to full height by morning. So, you’d shrink less on Mars, and even less on the Moon. Is that a good excuse for space exploration? 😉

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      Thanks Sara for answering this! It was what I was going to say!! I mentioned this to some other scientists over a cup of tea yesterday and one of them didn’t even know it happened!! Well done roflatop – because of your questions other people are discovering new stuff too!! 🙂

    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      Our spin is getting compressed… You dont shrink by that much thou.. as as sara says we all flattern out at night so decompresses… this is only a small, very small change…

Comments