Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Containing Papers of a Biological Character · 1927 · 94 citations · 5 references
Life SciencesAnimal SciencesPhysiologyAnimal BehaviorBiomechanicsDynamical SystemsLocomotion AnalysisLocomotion BiomechanicsLocomotor PhysiologyMovement DynamicsMovement KinematicsRunning BiomechanicsMaximum Sprint SpeedRunning MechanicsRunning PhysiologySprint BiomechanicsSprint KinematicsSprint KineticsSprinting MechanicsVelocity
Abstract The Greatest Allowable Speed of Movement.—Consider a series of “similar animals ” of different size and let the linear dimensions of any individual of the series be chacterised by the length l. Let M be the mass of one of its limbs, and v the greatest velocity it can attain in that limb. Then the momentum of the limb is proportional to Mv. Now this momentum is created at the beginning of a movement, or destroyed at the end of a movement, by a force F acting for a time t; and we may write, neglecting constants, Mv = Ft. Now t, the time occupied in producing or checking a movement, is proportional to l/v, while M is proportional to l3, so that, again neglecting constants, l3 = Fl/v.
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