It pays to be small

Great fact-o'-the-day!

Thanks for posting, Peter

Nice! Guess my 7-year-old will be able to carry more than I was anticipating!

vaguely reminds me about how it's easier to learn to ski when you're six.

This is why Kat kicks my butt.

…

The analogy in the article makes sense.

The ant can carry 6x it's body weight but an elephant cannot carry the weight of 6 elephants."

I don't think it makes sense at all to compare an insect to a Pachyderm in order to prove something about small vs. large humans…

However, I would compare that comparison to the apples and oranges fallacy

billy

now if they could only prove we can cover more miles per hour with our little legs because we can swing them faster…

"I don't think it makes sense at all to compare an insect to a Pachyderm in order to prove something about small vs. large humans…"

It certainly does. It is not so much an analogy as an application of the "square cube law", which dates to Galileo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square-cube_law

Maintain body proportions and compare a tall and short human. Strength is approximately proportional to the cross-sectional area of bone & muscle, changing as the square of height. Weight is proportional to volume, changing as the cube of height. Therefore, as height increases, strength increases more slowly than weight.

The same law explains why smaller people (and smaller animals) lose heat more rapidly. Heat production is roughly proportional to body volume, increasing as the cube of height; heat loss is roughly proportional to surface area, increasing as the square of height.

I note that the study speaks only of weight. A short, stout human and a tall, thin one weighing the same (and in the same athletic condition, roughly): who would carry more?

A short, stout human and a tall, thin one weighing the same (and in the same athletic condition, roughly): who would carry more?

From the article –

"The weight that the limiting body structure can support will scale with the cross-sectional area of muscle or bone."

Does this at all help explain why republicans have smaller ideas that are rarely supported by the weight of critical thought? Or is that something else entirely? ….

You've figured it out Doug!!!

Sorry Jerry, I was typing too quickly. What I meant was, does this at all help explain why democrats have smaller ideas that are rarely supported by the weight of critical thought? Or is that something else entirely? ….

What's disturbing to me is that PBS reported that voters, on average, are fed up and want politicians to compromise more

Problem is, Republicans are recalcitrant as ever but Democrats are the ones willing to compromise, so the pendulum may shift back to craziness…

"A short, stout human and a tall, thin one weighing the same (and in the same athletic condition, roughly): who would carry more?"

The one who has not accepted ultralightweight as a concept of backpacking.

–B.G.–

I'm a short (63") stout (135lbs) woman who can squat 175lbs. If you're male, skinny and tall and weigh the same as me, you need to squat about 300lbs to be even with me. So I don't know who would carry more. I carry more even when I'm carrying less.

As I have repeatedly explained to some tall guy(possessed of similar build and a physics degree) that I used to work out with, and who argued that the reason I could move so much more poundage than he was that I was 8" shorter, and had greater leverage-"weight is weight" :p

Absolutely. I used to hate working out with friends because my height meant lifting lower weights compared to them. Of course, on the trails these long legs do come in handy.

Ryan

> Of course, on the trails these long legs do come in handy.

With shorter legs I have to take twice as many steps! So you should carry the tent.

"With shorter legs I have to take twice as many steps!"

Don't say that your legs are short.

They are long enough to reach down to the ground, aren't they?

–B.G.–

"With shorter legs I have to take twice as many steps! So you should carry the tent."

But you can carry so much more weight than I can, plus I'm a wuss. Lets compromise. I will carry stakes and poles, you get the inner and fly?

Ryan

Well, supposedly the Neanderthals tended to be pretty short/stout, and some researchers theorize that they were incredibly strong for their height/weight compared to the average modern human.

> But you can carry so much more weight than I can, plus I'm a wuss. Lets compromise. I will carry stakes and poles, you get the inner and fly?

This sounds suspiciously like the current deal I have.