# Tiny, as in miniature Crocs. Styrofoam shrinkage and other weird physics funzies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 22, 2025, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963 "2025-12-22T20:25:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/21 "2025-12-23T17:08:46Z")
Our second toe is longer than the rest. With a weird shape. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/22 "2025-12-23T17:10:26Z")
Hey!! that’s it, though Thx. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/23 "2025-12-23T17:36:18Z")
That’s definitely one made that size, though, not a normal croc shrunken down. It has only five holes, where the full-sized ones have a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/24 "2025-12-23T18:14:43Z")
Exactly 8 holes. Yeah, I count. Actually the shrunken, dunked deep in the ocean Croc was me day-dreamin’, how to get…some.. Wait! This idea was planted in my melon by a ersatz genius. It never occured to me that styrofoam or anything would shrink down in the drink. The ‘drink’…I don’t drink. Aaaaccckkk. I’m confused 🫠 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/25 "2025-12-24T04:15:02Z")
You are Welcome. I’ve never been called “ersatz” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/26 "2025-12-24T04:43:39Z")
I just looked it up! Fuck you! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/27 "2025-12-24T05:44:48Z")
I meant it in a kindly way. Hey, I was talking about the ersatz genius around here. You know Son-of-a-wrek? Anywhoo. He’s always full of shit. And FU back, Mister Fish. What you think the universe is all about you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/28 "2025-12-24T05:58:42Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > What you think the universe is all about you? Just yours, Tommy. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/29 "2025-12-24T06:23:35Z")
Uh uh. The universe don’t want me to have tiny Crocs. See. It’s against me. 😥 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/30 "2025-12-24T12:49:36Z")
I own a pair of crocs where one shoe wound up getting too hot because a space heater was blowing on them, and the shoe shrank permanently. It looked like a kid’s shoe. I believe they were actual crocs and not knockoffs, but I can’t be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/31 "2025-12-24T12:56:17Z")
Someone I know spilt food on their crocs, then put them in the dishwasher on a hot cycle and they came out tiny (but also a bit misshapen) - they’re made from some expanded foam so I imagine boiling them collapses that structure. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/32 "2025-12-24T13:53:07Z")
Something similar happens with so-called styrofoam, like takeout coffee cups used to be made of. If you heat one in an oven (use a sacrificial plate 🙂 ), it’d turn into a teeny blob of styro-goo. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/33 "2025-12-24T17:34:02Z")
Incidentally, that’s the same substance that CD jewel cases are made from (just with a bunch of added air). And one of the key ingredients in a Lviv smoothie. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/34 "2025-12-24T18:20:59Z")
🤔 Hmmm… heat seems to be the thing that would work. But I gotta sacrifice some of my beloved Crocs to find out. I gotta dig for some old ones. I bet there is some here. I’m diving in..if I don’t show up by New Years, y’all call out the posse. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/35 "2025-12-26T15:33:41Z")
Heat almost certainly won’t shrink it down into a tiny Croc. Most likely it’d just turn it into a formless blob (it’d be a smaller formless blob, but still formless). And probably also release some nasty fumes in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/36 "2025-12-26T16:10:52Z")
Aaaaaccckkk. My parade is properly rained upon. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2025, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963/37 "2025-12-26T17:43:24Z")
For a while I worked with supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, in which you bathe something in a form of CO2 that is neither liquid nor gas (nor solid) but behaves somewhat like a liquid and somewhat like a gas. It operated at about 15,000 psi. I tried a dollar bill one time, and it came out roughly 2/3 normal size. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-as-in-miniature-crocs-styrofoam-shrinkage-and-other-weird-physics-funzies/1025963.md?page=1)