# Would Pears grown in space be round? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pears-grown-in-space-be-round/159968 "2003-03-08T21:34:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![1kBR\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/dc4da7/32.png) [@1kBR\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1kBR_Kid)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pears-grown-in-space-be-round/159968/1 "2003-03-08T21:34:50Z")
So I’m sittin’ there lookin’ at the Pears that came with breakfast this morning and got to thinkin’ about the odd shape. Is it caused or aided by gravity/ Would a lack of gravity make a ball-shaped pear? I’m a soldier. I have lots of time to ponder such things. You should see my Tetris score 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Timothy\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pears-grown-in-space-be-round/159968/2 "2003-03-08T21:40:54Z")
I think they’d still look like pears. There’s an article here: [http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/common/docs/highlights/seed\_to\_seed\_2000.pdf](http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov/common/docs/highlights/seed_to_seed_2000.pdf) that indicates that micro-gravity isn’t that big a challenge to a plant’s morphological development. (That’s a PDF file, by the way, so you may have to install the Acrobat reader if you have not already done so.) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pears-grown-in-space-be-round/159968/3 "2003-03-08T22:11:14Z")
Well, the first [soybean plants](http://www.spacedaily.com/news/food-02i.html) grown in space look pretty much like soybeans. The [starch content of spacegrown soybeans](http://lifesci.arc.nasa.gov/lis2/Exp_Pub_Appendix/BRIC/BRIC1_2.html) was reduced relative to seeds harvested on earth, but what this means in terms of the shape of pears is anybodies guess. Someone will have to grow a pear tree up there to find out. ---
**Author:** ![Florentine\_Pogen\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Florentine\_Pogen\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Florentine_Pogen_1)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pears-grown-in-space-be-round/159968/4 "2003-03-08T22:36:00Z")
Maybe a more relevant question is, “Why aren’t pears round?” ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pears-grown-in-space-be-round/159968/5 "2003-03-08T23:48:37Z")
Because God made them in the shape of the earth! Source it! (The belief that the earth is pear-shaped, not that god made pears in the shape of the earth ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pears-grown-in-space-be-round/159968/6 "2003-03-08T23:57:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\*Someone will have to grow a pear tree up there to find out. \*\* Which prompts the question, “How would a partridge perch in such a pear tree?” ---
**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:** [March 9, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pears-grown-in-space-be-round/159968/7 "2003-03-09T00:01:55Z")
It is worth mentioning that, of the numerous species in the pear family (Genus _Pyrus_), by no means all of them have pear-shaped fruits; some do have spherical fruits, others are almost perfectly conical, yet others more nearly cyclindrical. I don’t think gravity plays a huge role; the fruits just grow that shape. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-pears-grown-in-space-be-round/159968/8 "2003-03-09T18:05:16Z")
First of all, many, many fruits are naturally round. Oranges and all that. Secondly, pears are pear shaped very early on in formation, while they are still quite small and even hanging off the branches in all directions. Gravity doesn’t play a significant role here. It’s genetics. (Which **Mangetout** makes a good point about even in the pear family.)