Can You Fold Paper More than Seven Times?

Did you know a a 8.5 × 11 piece of paper can’t be folded in half more than 7 times?

Each time you fold paper in half, its thickness doubles. After 7 folds, a regular piece of paper becomes 128 layers thick — like trying to fold a small book! The surface area shrinks so fast, you run out of room to keep folding; that’s why normal sheets hit the limit so quickly.

Mythbusters took this to the next level to try an beat the limit of seven folds.

Using a giant sheet of paper longer than a football field, they managed to fold it 11 times with the help of a forklift and some serious muscle. That’s because the real problem isn’t how long the paper is, it’s how thick it becomes.

But with a giant sheet, you start with so much area that you can afford those thickness jumps.

And paper itself is surprisingly tough. One sheet can hold up a whole book if folded into a triangular shape. That’s the magic behind origami engineering; folds can turn fragile paper into bridges, towers and more.