The efficiency of bicycle‐pedalling, as affected by speed and load

where WO and k are constants. WO represents the theoretical maximum work and would be attained only if the contraction could take place infinitely slowly. k represents the theoretical minimum time and would be attained only if no external work were done. From experiments on isolated frog's muscle a relation has been found between the theoretical maximum work WO, the energy H liberated in an isometric contraction excited by a maximal stimulus, and the time t during which the stimulus lasts. It is given by the equation