Pick up a sheet of A4 paper. It is around 0.1 mm thick. Now imagine folding it in half again and again, 50 times. The result would be about 112,589,990 km, roughly 75% of the way from Earth to the Sun.
The Formula
Thickness after n folds: T × 2^n, where T = 0.1 mm.
Watch the Growth
Fold 00.10 mm
Fold 53.20 mm
Fold 10102.4 mm
Fold 1713.1 m
10-storey building
Fold 20104.9 m
Approaching Eiffel Tower height
Fold 2713.4 km
Into the mesosphere
Fold 353436.0 km
Heading toward the Moon
Fold 42439804.7 km
Past the Moon
Fold 50112.59 million km
Most of the way to the Sun
Try It Yourself
50
Thickness after 50 folds
112.59 million km
Most of the way to the Sun
Milestones
- Fold 1
0.2 mm - Two sheets of paper
- Fold 7
12.8 mm - Thickness of a smartphone
- Fold 10
102 mm - Height of a coffee mug
- Fold 17
~13 m - Roughly a 4-storey building
- Fold 20
~105 m - About a football field length
- Fold 23
~839 m - Close to Burj Khalifa height
- Fold 42
~440,000 km - Past the Moon
- Fold 50
~113M km - About 75% of the way to the Sun