4 ms·
Yes. With a coastline, the closer you measure, the more length-increasing features you observe, causing the measured length to diverge. Rivers have a finite w
by unholiness 11y ago
Yes.
With a coastline, the closer you measure, the more length-increasing features you observe, causing the measured length to diverge.
Rivers have a finite width, so once the distance between your measurements is smaller than the width of the river, the measured length will converge to the true length.
- pmalynin 11y agoIndeed, one would reach the plank length -- and hence the distance simply cannot be infinite.
- thedufer 11y agoThe planck length is simply the base length when you set up your units such that c, G, and h are all 1. There's currently no reason to believe it has any sort of physical meaning beyond that.
- iaw 11y agoI think wikipedia disagrees with your assessment: "According to the generalized uncertainty principle (a concept from speculative models of quantum gravity), the Planck length is, in principle, within a factor of 10, the shortest measurable length – and no theoretically known improvement in measurement instruments could change that."[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_length
- thedufer 11y ago"within a factor of 10" is a curiosity rather than anything of real significance. And even that is based on untested theories. It is possible that the Planck length will end up being significant in the way described upthread, but given our scientific record it seems somewhat more likely that such an idea will end up looking similar to the theory about atoms being the smallest unit of matter.