Ran across this while looking up something unrelated; thought some of you might enjoy reviewing it. http://phys.org/news/2013-10-necks-biggest-dinosaurs-big.html
Perhaps there was a large abundance of food . I believe they must have been living in water of swamps , because of their size . They probably could not move fast so they evolved a large neck to reach vegetation of fish like animals.
One advantage of large size could be large thermal mass which could help in body temperature maintenance. Another advantage is that it could offer some protection from predation much like how elephants' large size protects them.
Life is different from inanimate matter. Inanimate matter moves toward lower energy and higher entropy. If we had a piece of iron it would slowly rust lowering energy and gaining entropy. Life, is unique in that it does the opposite, in that Life will build or increase in energy/caloric value as it grows. A big tree burns longer than a small tree because it build energy value. Life also takes materials (food) and breaks these down, only to assemble them into elaborate order and structures implicit of low entropy relative to starting materials. The large size of dinosaurs reflects a phase of evolution geared toward building the caloric energy value to incredible levels. This evolutionary scenario will impact the entropy balance by causing the entropy to increase since entropy uses energy to increase. This would help diversity of species and prototypes in body systems. Later in evolution, size goes down and stay smaller. There is now less calorie or energy building (but still net positive) allowing entropy to decrease faster; better control systems.
Interesting comments and thoughts, guys. wellwisher, your insight is particularly curious, very true relating to inanimate matter vs life. On another note...the title of the thread should have read 'how,' not 'why' ....gah! Sorry about that...it might cause you to reflect differently on any future replies, now. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
