90 Feet Tall Adam

Is it possible for a human to be 90 feet or even 60 feet tall? Was Adam 90 feet tall?

I have known the name Jinnat Ali for a long time as the tallest man in Bangladesh. I am truly very saddened to hear about his death. He was indeed very tall, but that was due to his physical illness.

Anyway, let me talk a bit about another topic. Is it possible for humans to be 90 feet or even 60 feet tall? Many people would say it is possible. They claim that ancient humans were like that. So-and-so was 90 feet tall, someone else was 60 feet tall, etc. Islamic folklore says that Adam was 90 feet tall—and, astonishingly, millions and millions of followers of Islam have accepted this. You may have seen such things in movies as well. Many have read such tales in fairy stories. But when one sees a 60‑foot King Kong creating terror in New York City on the silver screen, a curious mind may ask: is it really possible for any forest-dwelling human to be that large? Let me draw a conclusion right away: humans used to be shorter in the past. Due to evolution, human height has been increasing over time. Human lifespan also used to be much shorter before; now it is gradually increasing due to various scientific blessings.

If there is still any doubt about the impossibility of a human being 90 feet tall, I want to say very clearly that Adam being 90 feet (60 cubits), or King Kong being 60 feet, or even 15–20 feet tall, is in no way possible. Adam being 90 feet tall is an outright fabricated myth in Islam. There are two reasons why this is impossible.

1) The first reason is the continuity of evolution

According to the history of evolution, the average height of humans has increased progressively compared to their ancestors, and it may increase a bit more in the future. Based on that, the existence of a 90‑foot-tall human or any humanoid group in the past is simply not possible. This single point is sufficient to clear away all kinds of confusion. However, I also know that most superstitious readers will not accept this point, because although they spend all day trying to reconcile science with their beliefs, they do not believe in evolution. Why they don’t believe in it probably doesn’t need to be explained further. And that is precisely why I am introducing my second argument.

2) The second reason is the Scale Law

How large an animal with certain physical characteristics can become depends on the effects of the scale law. Using this law, scientists can calculate the approximate possible size of animals or insects not only on Earth but also, if necessary, on any other planet or satellite in the universe. This law explains why an ant stretched to ten feet would die of suffocation, or why a blue whale can be 90–100 feet long. However, here I will try to keep the discussion limited to humans on Earth. Below, I have discussed three kinds of effects of the scale law on the human body. Throughout this discussion, one thing must be kept in mind: no matter how tall we make a human, their basic physical characteristics will remain the same. That is, a 90‑foot Kafil and a 5‑foot Rahimuddin will have the same bodily characteristics.

a) Height and weight:

According to the scale law, the weight of an animal or object increases as the cube of the rate at which its length increases. Generally, a healthy, well-built, 5‑foot-tall adult male weighs around 115 pounds. Now, if a human were 15 feet tall, according to the scale law, their weight would increase as the cube of the increase in length. That is, being only three times taller would make the person 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 times heavier. So the 15‑foot person would weigh (115 × 27) = 3,105 pounds, which is roughly equal to the combined weight of two or three healthy Australian cows. And those cows have four legs to support their weight and do not need to stand upright. [A 60‑foot King Kong would weigh 12 × 12 × 12 = 1,728 times more, or 198,720 pounds, or about 100 tons, and a 90‑foot human would weigh 18 × 18 × 18 × 115 = 670,680 pounds. One thing should be noted here—the above examples are approximate. Due to variations in physical characteristics, the cube law calculations will usually give a weight somewhat higher than that of a real human. Still, the estimates are fairly close and practically meaningful.]

On the other hand, the amount of weight a 15‑, 60‑, or 90‑foot‑tall person’s muscles or bones could support, or the amount of force they could apply, would increase in proportion to the thickness of the bones and muscles. For a 15‑foot‑tall person, weight-bearing capacity or strength would increase as the square of the cross-sectional area of the bones and muscles. That is, their strength would be only 3 × 3 = 9 times greater than that of a 5‑foot person. In other words, becoming three times taller increases weight by 27 times but strength by only 9 times. Comparatively, the 15‑foot person would be much, much weaker (only one third as strong) than the 5‑foot person, and their body structure would not be able to support them well. As a result, it is almost certain that their bones would break even when trying to walk or run. Reaching adulthood from childhood would be a far cry. This is why injury rates are much higher among tall athletes. Gymnasts or ice skaters, on the other hand, benefit from having smaller builds, because proportionally their strength per unit body mass is much greater. In the case of a 60‑foot King Kong, the ratio would be 1,728 versus 144, and for a 90‑foot human it would be 27,000 versus 900. King Kong or a 90‑foot human would collapse with broken bones before taking even a single step.

Many people may become confused when applying the cube law to children versus adults. Here it must be remembered that children initially have cartilage instead of bone. Later, collagen replaces it and forms hard bone. After birth, a child’s body is constantly changing, and bone density increases with age, improving load-bearing capacity. You may have seen that a child can pull their foot up to their mouth with their hands—something an adult cannot do. By around age 20, human bone development is mostly complete. So comparisons should be made with fully grown adults in mind.

b) Body heat production and heat dissipation:

The rate at which internally produced heat is lost from an animal’s body also depends on its surface area. So if a human becomes three times taller, their rate of heat loss will increase 3 × 3 = 9 times. But internal heat production will increase as the cube of volume (like weight), meaning it will increase 27 times. That means about 65% of the produced heat would not be able to escape the body. To balance this or to lose the excess heat, the person’s body surface area would have to increase enormously, or their physical characteristics would need radical changes. That would require keeping the height the same but increasing the width not by three times but by about five or six times. If we assume the average human width is about 2 feet, then a 15‑foot‑tall person would need to be 10–12 feet wide. Now imagine a person 15 feet tall and 10–12 feet thick. Is that even conceivable? Alternatively, special organs like those of quadrupeds would be needed. For example, an elephant’s huge ears evolved specifically to dissipate excess heat. That is not the elephant’s only heat-management feature—there are others. And if such features existed in humans, it goes without saying that they could no longer be called human. Elephants and other animals also have much thicker skin to withstand the enormous internal pressure from blood and other fluids. And there is really no need to even mention a 60‑foot King Kong or a 90‑foot human. Galileo was the first scientist to verify the truth of the scale law by applying it to animal size and structure.

Again, for those thinking about children versus adults: it is good to know that children lose heat much faster than adults, because their body surface area relative to body mass is much greater. As they grow, a balance gradually develops between the two.

Because of the relationship between heat and body surface area, very large animals lose body heat much more slowly than smaller animals. This is why smaller people get cold more quickly. This phenomenon also explains why newspapers burn very quickly, while a tree trunk takes much longer to burn because of its relatively smaller surface area. It also explains why whales have a rounded shape, since a sphere has the minimum surface area per unit mass. It should also be noted that whales can grow very large because of the buoyancy of seawater. That is why, when a whale becomes stranded on a beach and rescue is delayed, it can easily die from being crushed under its own immense weight. At this point, many people may start thinking about dinosaurs.

c) Lungs and insufficient oxygen supply:

Any multicellular animal needs oxygen intake. Oxygen consumption is also related to surface area. In humans, the amount of oxygen consumed depends on the surface area of the lungs. As human height increases, the demand increases greatly. As height increases, the surface area of the respiratory tract increases to a certain point, but at some stage the respiratory system would no longer be able to supply sufficient oxygen in time.

Biologist J. B. S. Haldane showed how the relationship between surface area and volume has shaped animal evolution. Remember, any one of the three factors discussed above is sufficient to prevent humans from becoming very tall. The tallest known man in recorded history was the American Robert Wadlow, who was 8 feet 11 inches tall and lived only 22 years, and had to use special leg braces to walk. The tallest woman was Deng (Zeng) Jinlian of China, who lived only 17 years. The current tallest living man, Sultan Kösen of Turkey, at 8 feet 3 inches and 29 years of age, is also not normal.

It can be said with near certainty that human height cannot exceed about 10 feet due to the scale law and Earth’s gravity. And a 15‑ or 30‑foot‑tall race, a 60‑foot King Kong, or a 90‑foot human is simply impossible.

[Acknowledgement for most of the writing: Horace]

Sources:

1) On Being the Right Size – J. B. S. Haldane
2) Scaling: Why Giants Don’t Exist – Michael Fowler
3) Physics of the Impossible: Michio Kaku