Shrink ray - a really, really, really bad idea?

[Darth Zakryn]

Ok, the shrinking ray. I don't know too much about biology, but I do know that, for example, if you inflated a person to fifty feet high, they wouldn't be able to survive for long, if at all. so, HOW can the Helmacrons' shrink ray shrink the Animorphs without their organs or whatever being affected? It's a lot more complex than that. Or something. I read this another review of another series, if anyone's interested in hearing it. Also, what does shrinking mean for matter in Z-space? Discuss!

[cams]

Well, I know that shrinking the animorphs would make them impossible to breathe because the oxygen molecules would become a few thousand times bigger than the lungs could use.

[Phoenix004]

Yes it's scientifically bull manure, but half the point in sci-fi is super advanced tech that can't be explained.

Perhaps the reason that they could harness the energy from the morphing cube is because the shrinking way works using a similar method. You get hit by it and most of your mass is stored in Z-space, along with your mind which is somehow connected to your much smaller form. As for how organs work, I haven't got a clue, lol.

[yunyun]

it is sci-fi

[TobiasMasonPark]

     I find the whole kids turning into animals thing more perplexing than shrink rays.

[Darth Zakryn]

The book implies that the shrink ray was just an unexpected side effect of using the box's energy in a different way, like shrinking down to submolecular size is normal without any repercussions. So... ideas? Maybe the morphing energy shielded them and gave them new bodies that could handle being smaller?

[DinosaurNothlit]

Perhaps, what they assumed to be a shrink ray was not a shrink ray at all, but rather a much simpler extension of the morphing technology.  Allow me to explain my radical and quite-possibly-completely-nonsensical theory.

Since they are able to morph without side-effects occurring in mid-morph, they can obviously survive being a melding of two creatures at once, right?  So, what if the shrink ray was NOT a shrink ray, but rather a long-distance projection of Helmacron DNA, basically forcing them to partially morph to Helmacron?  Sort of a reverse of the AMR the Yeerks were trying to make.  That would explain how they would be able to breathe and function and such, because they might have some Helmacron organs and lungs which would be adapted for being small.

. . . But, of course, then you get into issues like "How were they able to morph while being shrunk, then?" and "What about the two-hour time limit?" and "How did they wind up smaller than Helmacrons in #42?"  So it's obviously not a perfect theory.  But, still, it makes a tiny bit more sense than the phlebotinum that we're otherwise left dealing with.

[Darth Zakryn]

Yeah, at least it's semi-plausible and presentable.