Economies of Scale

Abstract

Nothing moves unless it is driven. The environment resists the movement. The flier and the swimmer experience “drag”. The skin of the fish and the airplane fuselage experiences “friction,” and the impala and the truck experience drag and friction. This universal feature of nature is accompanied by another universal feature—economies of scale—the natural constructal-law tendency toward acquiring new configurations that facilitate movement, provided that there is freedom to change. All flow systems with freedom tend to unite and organize for this reason. The resulting organization is a hierarchy of few large and many small, which is the antithesis to the one-size design with identical movers, and without organization. The evidence that efficiency increases with size is massive. Compilations of efficiency versus size data for steam power plants and aircraft engines illustrate this universal trend of nature, which is evident throughout the biological, geophysical, human, and social realms. Its manifestation can be measured and evaluated in physical terms. To illustrate, I composed two simple problems. The big size helps in many ways, not just in economies of fuel, power, and cost during movement. Big size is key for the survival of the specimen. People are no different, because they are also an evolving species—the “human and machine species.” Throughout history, nations and armies acted bigger than they were.