I understand that a spider can lift many times its own weight. Does anyone know how many times his own weight?
2007-07-20 17:05:57 · 5 answers · asked by AlanC 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
So, we have 100x (although this was questioned within the answer itself) and twice, as well as "it depends". Does anyone have a definitive answer?
2007-07-26 08:23:21 · update #1
I believe it's eight times his weight.
2007-07-27 16:18:32 · answer #1 · answered by Jeff M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The reason that small animals can lift a greater amount relative to their own weight has nothing to do with the animals being strong. The muscles of an ant or spider are the same strength (per amount of muscle) as a human's.
The reason these animals seem to be very strong for their size is due to simple scaling laws. Let's say we have a 6-foot tall, 200-pound human that can lift their own weight in some certain exercise routine. So, we can define their strength as the amount of weight they can lift, divided by their own weight. In this case, it's 200/200 = 1. So, they have a strength coefficient of 1.
If you scaled down that human to 1/100 of their height, and adjusted their length and width in the same way (to preserve their shape), you would have a human that was 0.06 feet tall.
Now, the human's weight goes as the CUBE of their height, so they would weigh (1/100)^3 times as much as they did before. If they weighed 200 pounds before, they would now weigh 0.0002 pounds.
However, their muscle strength goes as the cross-sectional area of their muscle, and area goes as the SQUARE of their height. So, they can now lift (1/100)^2 times as much weight as they could before. If they could lift 200 pounds before, they would be able to lift 0.02 pounds now.
Let's calculate their strength-per-weight coefficient:
(0.02 pounds) / (0.0002 pounds) = 100
They are now able to lift 100 times their own weight! The only reason for this is that strength goes as the square of linear size, while weight goes as the cube of linear size.
This works in reverse, too: If you made a human 10 times taller (a 60-foot human) and kept their proportions the same, they'd be 100 times as strong, but also 1000 times as heavy! They would collapse under their own weight and be unable to do anything useful.
2007-07-20 17:25:00 · answer #2 · answered by lithiumdeuteride 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
According to National Geographic some types can lift 170 times their weight and jump 50 times their length.
2015-04-18 06:21:11 · answer #3 · answered by Adam Smith 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It depends.Sometime twice the weight.
2007-07-25 18:16:16 · answer #4 · answered by KC G 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that would vary quite a bit considering what species you are talking about.
2007-07-20 17:11:37 · answer #5 · answered by Lady Geologist 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋