Citation
Morphometry of the Human Lung
TL;DR
Human lungs have ~23 generations of airway branching
Weibel's detailed morphometric analysis of human lung structure documented the fractal branching of the bronchial tree - 23 generations of airway branching culminating in 300-500 million alveoli with 70 m² surface area packed into 6 liters. This empirical work demonstrated how fractal architecture solves the surface-area problem.
For organizations, this shows how fractal structures can pack enormous 'surface area' (customer touchpoints, employee interactions) into finite organizational 'volume' (management overhead).
Key Findings from Weibel (1963)
- Human lungs have ~23 generations of airway branching
- 300-500 million alveoli provide ~70 m² surface area
- Fractal branching enables near-linear scaling of surface area with volume