The discussion revolves around the phenomenon of folding a sheet of paper, specifically addressing the claim that a standard sheet can only be folded seven times, regardless of its size or thickness. Participants explore scientific reasoning, personal experiences, and anecdotal evidence related to this limitation.
Participants express differing views on the folding limit, with some supporting the seven-fold claim while others provide counterexamples and suggest that material properties play a significant role. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the definitive limits of folding paper.
Participants highlight the dependence on the type of paper and its thickness, as well as the potential for distortion and tearing with increased folds. There are unresolved assumptions regarding the definitions of "paper" and the conditions under which folding occurs.
For relatively thick paper, with each fold the paper becomes stiffer and the outer layer(s) will not stretch and thus each subsequent fold is harder.CrawfordK said:Hey, well recently I've found out at the late age of 17, that you can only fold a sheet of paper 7 times over, no matter how thin, or large the piece of paper is. Is there any scientific reasoning behind this? I can't think of anything??
turbo-1 said:Have you tried this with single-ply tissue paper? I just doubled a single ply from a Scotties tissue 8 times with no problem. Tissues are small. If the sheet was larger or if the sheet was thinner, it would have been easy to get more folds in.