Do trees contract in winter?

(February 2008 - Riverhead, NY) Mrs. Spinelli's second graders love science. They have been observing and recording data about the big tree on the front lawn of the Roanoke Avenue School. They went outside in November and the big tree was losing some leaves but still quite green. They went out last week and the tree had no leaves. The students measured the tree trunk each time they observed the tree and recorded data. They each had an hypothesis about what was happening to the tree.

Mrs. Spinelli clarifies, "We have been measuring the circumference of the tree at exactly one meter up the trunk. We discovered that the trunk's circumference was 1/2 cm shorter in the winter than in the fall. We hypothesized that the tree (like us) contracts in the cold and thus has a smaller circumference!"

Now that leads to the need for more clarification, "Do people really contract in cold weather? Would I be thinner if I stood outside in weather that was below zero as opposed to 40 degrees Fahrenheit?"

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