How Many Times Can You Fold a Paper?

The humble paper fold has captivated mathematicians, scientists, and record-breakers alike, as they grapple with the question: just how many times can a single sheet of paper be folded?

The answer, it turns out, is both mind-boggling and deeply grounded in the practical realities of material properties and human ingenuity. There’s also a common myth that you can’t fold a piece of paper more than 7 or 8 times, but is that really true? Lets find out!

What's happening when you fold paper?

When you fold a piece of paper, you’re essentially doubling its thickness each time. Imagine starting with a single sheet. Let’s say it’s 0.1 millimeters thick (about as thick as a standard sheet of paper). After the first fold, you have 2 layers, making it 0.2 millimeters. After the second fold, it’s 0.4 millimeters with 4 layers. By the time you fold it 10 times (if you could!), it would be over 100 millimeters thick—as tall as a soda can!

How does folding a paper 42 times reach the moon ?

As you fold the paper more and more, its surface area decreases, exponentially making it harder to get a neat fold each time. Theoretically, folding a standard sheet of paper 42 times could, reach the moon (at around 384,400 km or 238,900 miles), while 103-folds of paper will get you beyond the observable universe, extending across 93 billion light years. These are purely theoretical calculations that don’t account for the practical limitations of paper folding. The reality is that you’d simply run out of paper long before that!

The paper would become too small and crumpled to fold neatly, and the slightest imperfection in the folds would compound with each subsequent fold, making it virtually impossible to continue folding accurately

World record for folding paper

The current record for the most folds in a single piece of paper is held by Britney Gallivan, who managed an impressive 12 folds in 2002. But this feat required a massive tissue paper that was 1.2 km (0.75 miles) long!

So to answer the question can you fold a piece of paper more than 7 times ? Yes you can, but it would also depend on the type of paper !