Operational time and theory of biological similarities

Abstract

The scaling law for any biological function, whose dimensions can be defined in accordance with the MLT-system (M = mass, L = length, T = time) can be predicted from the general equation of the theory of biological similarities. An empirical correction factor was introduced into the exponent of the time ratio in order to obtain a reasonable agreement between the experimental findings and the theoretically predicted exponents. The present paper is an attempt to improve the predictive value of the above-mentioned theory by a separate treatment of the theory per se and the empirical correction factor. The numerical value of this factor can be obtained from the comparison of the theoretical exponents for any frequency and for the metabolic rate with the empirically obtained body weight exponents for both functions. Furthermore, it was necessary to introduce “operational time” into the empirical correction factor and to define the dimension of the operational time for each physiological variable, taking into account whether or not a clock was used during the experiment. By means of this new correction factor a surprisingly good agreement between theory and experimental findings was observed.