Citation
Size and shape in biology
TL;DR
Structural support must scale faster than mass to maintain function
McMahon's paper provided rigorous mathematical treatment of how structural scaling works in biology. He showed why elephants have proportionally thicker legs than mice and why there are absolute limits to terrestrial animal size.
The paper demonstrates that structural scaling isn't optional - physics dictates that larger organizations must have proportionally different 'support structures' (management layers, processes, coordination mechanisms).
Key Findings from McMahon (1973)
- Structural support must scale faster than mass to maintain function
- Limb thickness scales with mass^0.375 for elastic similarity
- ~80 tons represents terrestrial mammal maximum