A popular argument asserts that a sheet of paper cannot be folded in half more than seven times.
In 2002, Britney Gallivan, then a middle school student in Pomona, California (USA), folded a sheet of paper in half 12 times.
`Before my efforts, it was believed that folding a piece of paper in half more than eight times was impossible and that seven times was the generally accepted folding limit. I was the first person to fold paper in half 9, 10, 11
Interestingly enough, Gallivan’s motivation to achieve these feats came from an incident that happened in Math class.
Not only did he set a world record, Gallivan even devised equations to calculate the number of times any piece of paper could be folded in half in one or more directions.
`I started spending many hours folding sheets of paper, newspaper and any other flat material I could find,` Gallivan said.
Britney Gallivan currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most times a piece of paper has been doubled – 12 times.
In the end, Gallivan set her record with a piece of tissue paper she found online, which was 1,219 meters long, to be recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Since Gallivan set his record, others have claimed to fold a sheet of paper more than 12 times.
Folding a piece of paper in half is not easy, mathematically speaking
For example, an average sheet of paper is about 0.1 mm thick.
During the first 6 folds, this can be achieved easily.
For example, after 42 folds, the sheet of paper will be 439,800 km thick – greater than the average distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Another issue that must also be mentioned is the difficulty of folding paper.
While the strength of a human hand is difficult to double a sheet of paper too many times, even specialized equipment such as hydraulic presses are unable to fold paper.
Thus, folding paper seems easy, but in reality it is incredibly difficult!
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