What do people mean when they say that a giant monster like Godzilla would “collapse under the weight of itself?”

Question

Wouldn’t a monster that big have extra large bones and muscles to support all that mass?

In: 1458

Answer 1

The mass of anything increases by the cube of it’s dimensions. But the strength of material struts (bones) only increase by the square. So at some point the bones become unable to support the increased weight and crush down. They would crush in compression failure. Whales will die on the beach, since they no longer have the water to support the large mass they have. It is also why celestial objects become spheres above a certain mass. Even rock has a crush limit. So beyond a certain mass the gravity crushes the rock down to a sphere. The smallest dimensions for a given mass.