From: Jon Camfield <griffjon@austin.rr.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) Aw Hell (Giants)
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1999 11:49:30

>   aw, tell him to bugger off and go appreciate some
>existencial<sp> impressionism...;-> Actually, doesn't
>that naively assume that the lung capacity isn't also
>increased by the evolution of greater numbers of
>alevoli <sp> sucking up O2?

The problem is that the ability to get oxygen from the air (or the water,
for that matter) is based on amount surface, so it scales much slower than
volume (volume scales in cubes, surface area in squares).

OTOH, we have seen giants such as the sperm whale and the brontosaurus rex
alive and well on earth--so the undines are certainly within reach
size-wize (I'd give them T. Rex-level proportions from what I
remember--anyone have better estimates?).

And, who said Abaia breathes, in the first place?

Also, as Ron pointed out, it may be entirely possible that some other
method has evolved--smaller alevoli (diminishing returns as the space
between cells approaches the size of O2), bigger, more expansive
lungs/gills, etc. etc. etc.
______________________________________________________
Jon "GriffJon" Camfield                    www.GriffJon.com
Web R&D, Competitive Intelligence; eCertain.com

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