Allometric law

Allometric law (or power-law) are relationships between living organism's body parts or process, usually expressed in power-law form:

or in a logarithmic form:

Examples

Some examples of allometric laws:

• Kleiber's law, the proportionality between metabolic rate q₀ and body size M raised to the power 3 / 4:

• the proportionality between breathing and heart beating times t and body size M raised to the power 1 / 4:

• mass transfer contact area A and body mass M:

• the proportionality between the optimal cruising speed V_opt of flying bodies (insects, birds, airplanes) and body mass M in kg raised to the power 1 / 6:

See Also

• allometry
• scaling law
• power law
• constructal law

References

• A. Bejan, Shape and Structure, from Engineering to Nature, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2000. ISBN 0521793882
• A. Bejan, Constructal theory of organization in nature: dendritic flows, allometric laws and flight, Design and Nature, CA Brebbia, L Sucharov & P Pascola (Editors). ISBN 1-85312-901-1