Is this True? #1 – Folding a Piece of Paper 42 Times Makes it Thick Enough to Reach the Moon

muhammadyasir (41)in #myth • 7 years ago

Welcome My Steemit Friends to the 1st ever episode of ‘Is it True?’ In this series I will try to uncover some pretty hard to digest statements such as the one I am going to discuss now.

I was randomly checking out some blogs for some weird stuff. I do that in my spare time. Lol! Anyways, I was shocked when I saw this statement on a blog which said, ‘It’s mathematically possible that an average paper when folded 42 times will be thick enough to reach the moon.’ After reading this statement, my curiosity level reached the roof and I just wanted to check out myself if it is really possible.

So, without further ado, let’s analyze if it is really a fact or just another myth randomly flowing through the internet.

First of all, let’s get our facts straight so that we can proceed further towards calculations.

Fact #1 – Distance from the Earth to the Moon

According to the Source

Fact #2 – Thickness of an Average Paper = 0.05 mm

According to the Source

Now, we have our facts straight let’s get into calculations. Each time the paper is folded its thickness gets doubled so according to this.

Thickness of Paper after 1 Fold = 0.1 mm

Thickness of Paper after 2 Fold = 0.2 mm

Thickness of Paper after 3 Fold = 0.4 mm

Thickness of Paper after 4 Fold = 0.8 mm

Thickness of Paper after 5 Fold = 1.6 mm

Thickness of Paper after 6 Fold = 3.2 mm

Thickness of Paper after 7 Fold = 6.4 mm

Thickness of Paper after 8 Fold = 12.8 mm

Thickness of Paper after 9 Fold = 25.6 mm

Thickness of Paper after 10 Fold = 51.2 mm

Thickness of Paper after 11 Fold = 102.4 mm

Thickness of Paper after 12 Fold = 204.8 mm

Thickness of Paper after 13 Fold = 409.6 mm

Thickness of Paper after 14 Fold = 819.2 mm

Thickness of Paper after 15 Fold = 1,638.4 mm

Thickness of Paper after 16 Fold = 3,276.8 mm

Thickness of Paper after 17 Fold = 6,553.6 mm

Thickness of Paper after 18 Fold = 13,107.2 mm

Thickness of Paper after 19 Fold = 26,214.4 mm

Thickness of Paper after 20 Fold = 52,428.8 mm

Thickness of Paper after 21 Fold = 104,857.6 mm

Thickness of Paper after 22 Fold = 209,715.2 mm

Thickness of Paper after 23 Fold = 419,430.4 mm

Thickness of Paper after 24 Fold = 838,860.8 mm

Thickness of Paper after 25 Fold = 1,677,721.6 mm

Thickness of Paper after 26 Fold = 3,355,443.2 mm

Thickness of Paper after 27 Fold = 6,710,886.4 mm

Thickness of Paper after 28 Fold = 13,421,772.8 mm

Thickness of Paper after 29 Fold = 26,843,545.6 mm

Thickness of Paper after 30 Fold = 53,687,091.2 mm

Thickness of Paper after 31 Fold = 107,374,182.4 mm

Thickness of Paper after 32 Fold = 214,748,364.8 mm

Thickness of Paper after 33 Fold = 429,496,729.6 mm

Thickness of Paper after 34 Fold = 858,993,459.2 mm

Thickness of Paper after 35 Fold = 1,717,986,918.4 mm

Thickness of Paper after 36 Fold = 3,435,973,836.8 mm

Thickness of Paper after 37 Fold = 6,871,947,673.6 mm

Thickness of Paper after 38 Fold = 13,743,895,347.2 mm

Thickness of Paper after 39 Fold = 27,487,790,694.4 mm

Thickness of Paper after 40 Fold = 54,975,581,388.8 mm

Thickness of Paper after 41 Fold = 109,951,162,777.6 mm

Thickness of Paper after 42 Fold = 219,902,325,555.2 mm

OK. We have our number but it’s in mm so let’s convert this huge number into km to find out if we have reached the moon yet or not?

This is the conversion Screenshot

So, we have reached to a thickness of 219,902.326 km. Pretty awesome right! But we are still short by 165,000 km no issue if we fold the paper once more we will be well passed the moon. So, we can safely say that if we fold a piece of paper 43 times then we can definitely reach the moon.

I know it’s pretty awesome but it’s physically impossible. Why? Because, we can’t make a paper large enough to be folded 43 times. Even if we do, we can’t possibly place it on Earth.