User:Stewart MacPherson

With respect, I would like to challenge the derivation (by Galileo), that, the square-cube law leads to the assumption that mass outstrips (increases faster) than surface area; specifically, cross-sectional area. Galileo assumes this to mean that a mouse cannot be scaled to the size of an elephant, because the cross sectional area of its bone would not be sufficient to support its weight.

However this is not how bone reacts. Bone does not react to load by cross-sectional area. It does so by resisting bending energy action delivered through tendon. There is an ‘interplay’ between the hyper-elasticity of tendon and the stiffness of bone. Load and stiffness (or the lack of it) are entirely different actions under hyper-elasticity.