Excluding Boris Johnson And Eric Pickles... But

[AndiFlatland]

...including all the buildings, the people, the roads, the cars and buses and trains, the underground system, and all the rest of the infrastructure...
How much does London weigh? Roughly - and within the area bordered by the M25.

[douglas9401]

About four times the weight of Birmingham.

[mastercraft]

697 trillion tons... give or take a pound or two.

[Baldric]

Wow, thank goodness you didn't include Eric Pickles, you'd have broken the scales!

[tonyav]

douglas9401
About four times the weight of Birmingham.


Nah douglas, only three times I think. Have you seen the size of some of those fb's in the Tilton Road end of BCFC.

[mastercraft]

BCFC, Birmingham city Fat Club.

[tonyav]

LOL, yep mastercraft.

[Marshwarble]

How far does London go underground?

[AndiFlatland]

No reliable answers, then? I thought this one would draw some humour. But it's a question I've had buzzing round my head for years, and daft though it seems, it must have an answer of sorts - just not that easy to work out. Think I'll have to send this one to QI's tireless elves. It's a pity that the L series has just finished!
Marshwarble, you've just posed a similar question to another one like this which has been in my mind for a long time: Not only 'how far does London go underground', but how far below ground does the jurisdiction of the council or the law reach? And indeed, in the opposite direction - how far above the ground? I'm visualising a cone of influence which tapers all the way to a point at the centre of the earth, and opens out to... well, infinity, I suppose, from the ground upwards into the sky. I guess the edges of the cone above ground would of necessity then have to become a cylinder, as they abutted the cones of neighbouring councils. Otherwise they would overlap badly, and there would be endless wars.
So if you could dig deep enough, or fly up high enough, how far would you go before the authorities would have no claim on you or your activities?

[atalanta]

Unfortunately, the weight of London today will be less than the weight of London tomorrow. Earth gets 25 tons heavier every day from the amount of space-dust which falls on it all the time. London's daily/weekly/annual share will be small, but calculable. And don't ask me to calculate it. Ask a geologist, geographer or mathematician.