42 times paper fold idea

The idea behind folding paper 42 times to reach the Moon is an interesting demonstration of exponential growth.

Here's the concept:

When you fold a piece of paper in half, its thickness doubles.

Paper typically has a thickness of about 0.1 mm (0.0001 meters).

Each fold increases the thickness exponentially: after the first fold, it's twice as thick (0.2 mm), after the second fold, it's four times as thick (0.4 mm), and so on.

By the 42nd fold, the thickness of the paper becomes astronomical, literally.

Let's calculate the thickness after 42 folds:

The thickness of the paper after n folds is , where n is the number of folds.

After 42 folds:

T = 0.0001 \times 2^{42} \, \text{meters}

T = 0.0001 \times 4,398,046,511,104 , \text{meters} ]

T = 439,804,651 \, \text{meters}

This is about 439,804 kilometers, which is more than the average distance from the Earth to the Moon (about 384,400 kilometers).

This shows how quickly exponential growth can escalate to enormous scales! While physically impossible due to the limitations of paper and the sheer size after so many folds, it’s a fun and powerful illustration of exponential growth.