The 7-Fold Paper Dilemma: Is There an Explanation?

[_Mayday_]

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??

 

[DaveC426913]

Each successive fold doubles the layers. By the seventh fold you have a sheaf of paper 128 sheets thick. That's thick enough to cause major distortions and tearing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(season_5)#Seven_Folds"

 

[turbo]

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.

 

[Astronuc]

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??

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.

 

[_Mayday_]

Cheers, I get it now.

 

[yenchin]

Read about http://www.pomonahistorical.org/12times.htm" who not only folded papers more than 12 times in half, but derived an equation that yielded the width of paper, W, needed in order to fold a piece of paper of thickness t any n number of times, all while she was in junior high school.

 

[BobG]

This subject came up a few years ago on PF. We even had Britney Gallivan chime in on the forum.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=56289

 

[Math Jeans]

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.

Tissues are not made of paper. They are only in the shape of paper.