UK coastline

[kwicky]

What is the length of the UK coastline? I believe because of the rugged and indented coastline including esturaries that the true figure is greater than expected.

The environmentalists seem to put a damper on any project that affects any benefit to the country saying the bird population would be greatly affected. So the case of the Severn Barrage

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7021835.st m

[pauln90]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_coastline

[gumboot]

According to the CIA World Factbook, it's 12429 Kilometres.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html

[jake-the-peg]

It's infinite.

Well it kind of depends, coastlines are examples of fractals. These shapes keep getting more and more complex the closer you look at them.

Imagine a star of david - now take each line and divide into 3 and in the middle third draw another star of david and keep going for ever

It looks like this:

http://library.thinkquest.org/26242/full/types /images/22.gif

you end up with a shape with a finite area (It will all fit in a circle) but an infinite perimeter.

Coastlines behave quite like fractals the more precicely you measure them the longer they become - infact mandelbrot himself looked at how long the coastline of Britain is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Long_Is_the_C oast_of_Britain%3F_Statistical_Self-Similarity _and_Fractional_Dimension

So you have to know what accuracy is being used when measuring - good old Wikipedia cautions that the CIA fact book does not give this piece of information so you can't rely on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries _by_length_of_coastline

Bit of a diversion I know but what the heck.

Yes the environmental lobby is in a bit of a mess they've been advocating tidal power and wind power for years but now it's happening some of them are up in arms about the barrage or the wind farms.

That''s the thing about energy policy there's always an environmental impact of some sort and nobody wants to like next door to a power plant of any type

[kwicky]

I suppose the reason I linked the length of coastline with RSPB twitchers is that surely there is room to accommodate the Severn Barrage as well.