How many times can you fold a paper

One intriguing way of calculating the thickness is as follows:. Imagine you have a toilet roll which you are looking at from the side. The area of this cross section will be equal to the length of your toilet paper multiplied by its thickness. This cross section can also be worked out by using the following formula: where is the diameter of the toilet roll and is the diameter of the hole of the toilet roll. We then have which rearranges to. Tube Diameter.

When you put these numbers into the thickness equation we find that in the example above — you can try to find out how thick your own toilet roll is at home using this equation!

For 13 folds the world record and a thickness of 0. Remarkably close to the 16km used in the actual record attempt. It is hard to imagine how the students folded in half a piece of toilet paper 16km long, let alone It may be some time before their record is broken! Article by Hazel Lewis. Web design by Measured Designs. Who developed a mathematical theorem regarding paper folding? How thick would a piece of paper be if you could fold it times? Wonder What's Next?

Try It Out Are you ready for some origami? Grab a friend or family member and check out the following activities: Go ahead. Try it. You know you want to. After reading today's Wonder of the Day, you know you want to grab a piece of paper and start folding.

So do it! In fact, get several sheets of paper and experiment. How many half-folds can you get? Does the paper increase in thickness with each fold? Do you see why it takes larger and larger pieces of paper to accomplish more folds?

Even the creative scientists at Mythbusters took on the task of folding paper. Jump online to watch their Folding Paper video to see how they did. What do you think? Would you want to try to fold a piece of paper that big? Isn't it fun using science to be creative in solving problems? Folding paper doesn't always have to be about math or science, though. Often, it's about art. That's right! We're talking about the ancient art of origami. Did you get it? Test your knowledge.

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Join the Discussion. Slush boy Dec 18, Darlene Jacobson May 17, May 20, Thanks for sharing that factoid, Darlene! Zayan Oct 22, I have folded a tissue paper 10 times. Also, eventually so u think it is possible to fold paper 42 times or even times? S loved this wonder :. May 9, Gracie Sep 7, Sep 8, Wow, Gracie! That sounds neat!

We are glad you stopped by to learn with us! May 26, Very cool, aiydan! Kevin May 23, Mason May 23, Salty Dark Jan 9, Hi, Mason! Thanks for giving this Wonder a try! We appreciate you stopping by Wonderopolis! Jalane May 20, In the beginning was really easy but then it got harder and harder!!! May 23, We're glad you gave it a try, Jalane! Very cool, Mason! We're glad you're having fun exploring this Wonder question!

May 22, Thanks for sharing your thoughts, luke! Mariah May 19, May 19, As the paper goes in, and the hydraulic press clamps down, we hear a "bang", and see that the paper has basically exploded into a hard, chalky substance that crumbles into pieces. It doesn't even look like paper anymore. So what just happened? As Thomas Amidon, a professor of paper and bioprocess engineering at SUNY's College of Environmental Science and Forestry, told Mary Beth Griggs at Popular Science , the most likely explanation for the sad demise of the pressed paper wasn't the cellulose wood fibres it's made from, but another component of the paper: calcium carbonate.

This substance is added into the paper mix at the mill to make the finished product more opaque and stiff than it would be if composed of just wood fibres. Watch the footage above to see the strange phenomenon in action.