Why can't you fold paper more than a few times?
Paper's Folding Rebellion
Why can't you fold paper more than a few times?
You grab a piece of paper and fold it in half. Easy. You fold it again. Still easy. You fold it a third time. Starting to get thick. By the seventh fold, your hands are shaking and the paper feels like it's made of steel. What's happening?
Here's the wild part: every time you fold, you double the thickness. One sheet becomes two layers. Two becomes four. Four becomes eight. It's not adding—it's multiplying, and multiplying gets out of hand fast.
