The Eight Times Rule.
Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:13 am
In my childhood, there was an old chestnut that used to say that it was impossible to fold any piece of paper, albeit so big, in half more than eight times. Duly, we used to take bits of paper and try it and lo and behold, by the sixth/seventh or at most (at a stretch) eighth time the resultant mass became so clumsy and enwieldy that it resisted further folding just as predicted.
Now why was this true - and is it still so?
Has material science now evolved to such a point that the eight times rule no longer applies? What was it about the topology/thickness relationship of bits of (rectangular) paper back then that made them so rigid in their adherence to the rule ...... was it simply down to the thickness of paper back then (though I seem to recall trying to achieve the feat with the thinnest of tissue paper and failing, but this might be an entirely brain constructed memory - the brain does such things over the long passage of time you know) or is this one of the unwritten laws of the universe akin to (insert an unwritten law of your choice here - suddenly I find I can't think of one), never to be breached until a new universe is formed with a new set of rules.
It's a mystery!
Or is it?
Now why was this true - and is it still so?
Has material science now evolved to such a point that the eight times rule no longer applies? What was it about the topology/thickness relationship of bits of (rectangular) paper back then that made them so rigid in their adherence to the rule ...... was it simply down to the thickness of paper back then (though I seem to recall trying to achieve the feat with the thinnest of tissue paper and failing, but this might be an entirely brain constructed memory - the brain does such things over the long passage of time you know) or is this one of the unwritten laws of the universe akin to (insert an unwritten law of your choice here - suddenly I find I can't think of one), never to be breached until a new universe is formed with a new set of rules.
It's a mystery!
Or is it?