A dog has a body mass of

PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Biophysics & Medical Physics · Bioelectricity, the senses and the physics of the body · Bioelectricity, the senses and the physics of the body

Life at Thermal Energy, Ch Bones, muscles, blood and body size

Problem

25\,\mathrm{kg}

. Using Kleiber's law,

B_{\rm met} = 3.4\,M^{3/4}\,\mathrm{W}

with

M

in kilograms, find: ((a)) the dog's predicted basal metabolic rate; ((b)) its predicted power per unit mass; ((c)) its predicted resting heart rate, scaling from a human rate of

70\,\mathrm{beats\,min^{-1}}

70\,\mathrm{kg}

with heart rate

\propto M^{-1/4}

. Compare it with measured resting rates of roughly

60

100\,\mathrm{beats\,min^{-1}}

for dogs of this size.

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