Fractals reference

Question

I want to present an elementary lecture about Fractals in the Nature. So, I am searching open or online references with good pictures like the following one:

I prepared a good program that makes the fractals and the participants don't know much the analysis patterns behind this concept, so I am going to introduce Fractals in the Nature just by doing some graphical figures or setting formulas and etc. I will be so pleased if I know your suggestions.Thanks for the time you will give me.

Answer 1

I highly recommend the book that Maisam referenced in the comments below your question: Mendelbrot's The Fractal Geometry of Nature. It is widely acclaimed, and likely available at a library, public and/or academic.

You might be interested in some of the links in this "given the pattern, find the fractal" math.SE post: In particular, you might want to check out the link to The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants, which is a "book" whose chapters are available on-site for downloading in pdf form.

Of particular interest might be the chapter entitled: Modeling of Trees, and Fractal Properties of Plants.

For a vast array of examples of fractals, and a categorization of some major types, see the commercial website Fractal Science Kit (free for the browsing!)

Also, a link of interest might be the Yale Website for a class in Fractals. This page on "forgeries" might be of particular interest. E.g.:

Answer 2

Try coastlines? I've read somewhere fractal dimension of english coastline is close to that of koch's snowflake..

Answer 3

Since they're used to define fractal dimension, it might be good to show how logarithms give you a scale-based measuring system, based on ratios of distances instead of absolute positions - decibels, 12TET, a map of the city where your house is all big, plotting a number line starting with a nice distance between 1 and 2 and shortening it small enough to not notice much as you look at the end of the page and are thinking about how you're going to fit 100 in there.