-- ShaiRevzen? - 01 Oct 2004

The biomechanics literature is full of scaling laws. It seems to me that geometric scaling (as in "write feet instead of inches") wouldn't work well when the primary constraints on the system are from bending.

In general, biomechanists would use the "strain scaling" law that seems to work for trees and bones. This law assumes that material properties remain constant and that branches are loaded to the same percent of breaking strain. It gives length proportional to mass^0.33 and diameter proportional to mass^0.66 -- results that are probably not surprising to engineers who learn Euler bending.

Because we have the ability to use much stiffer materials than roach spines use, we might get away from these scaling relations, and use thinner spines.