Scaling Fallacy

The underlying physical principle dates to 1638, when Galileo Galilei published Two New Sciences and demonstrated that structures cannot simply be enlarged proportionally — volume grows as the cube while surface area grows as the square, making larger versions weaker relative to their mass. This square–cube law gave the fallacy its scientific foundation. The term "scaling fallacy" was later formalized as a named design principle by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler in their 2003 reference Universal Principles of Design.