What is the difference between a continent and an island?

Question

Seriously, I NEED to know.

Answer 1

http://users.erols.com/jcalder/CONTISLAN...

This will give you everything you need to know.

Answer 2

GREAT QUESTION!!!

Actually, there isn't a "scientific" methodolgy to explain WHY continents differ from islands, except for size.

From Wikipedia :

"The narrowest meaning of continent is that of a continuous area of land or mainland, with the coastline and any land boundaries forming the edge of the continent."

Based on this defintion, you could see how, say, Greenland or The British Isles would technically be a continent.  But they are considerd islands.

Size has a lot to do with it too.   Austrailia is huge.  Antartica is also pretty big.  But no major body of wate divides Asia and Europe.  Yet, they are different continents.

There is however rivers and a large set of mountians dividing them.  Also from the same link in Wikipedia :

"The division of the landmass of Eurasia into the continents of Asia and Europe is an anomaly, as no sea separates them. The distinction is maintained for historical and cultural reasons."

Good luck, and let us know how your work goes!!!

Answer 3

That is a difficult one to pin down.  An island is always surrounded by water and is smaller than a continent.  But some continents are not completely surrounded by water and connect to different continents.  Now that I have found that I can't absolutely define the difference except for size, I'm going to do a search.

A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, but seven areas are commonly regarded as continents – they are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.[10]

Island:  a land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water