Taller in Space

Do you know that if you are 160cm tall on earth, you can be about 164cm~ tall in space? That is approximately 3% taller than your height on earth. So how can that happen?

Earth from space taken from here.

The planet earth as we know has a gravitational force of 9.8m/s2. While beyond the earth's sky is what you call space, a boundless area found between stars and planets. Unlike earth, this space is known to have zero gravity. As a result, despite having the same mass, one will be considered weightless in space. This is how astronauts and objects are seen to be floating around easily in space.

As astronauts experience zero gravity, their bodies experience some changes too. An example will be their muscles and bones where little energy is needed to overcome zero gravity as they move around. The spine, commonly known as the backbone, is then able to expand and relax in space, contributing to the difference in height.

However, this height difference is short-lived. When astronauts come back and experience the gravitational force on earth again, their bodies will slowly adjust and return to their usual height.

The height difference is just one out of the many things that the astronauts discovered concerning gravity by going to space.