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Students Claim New Paper Folding Record

Posted by samzenpus on from the you-got-to-know-when-to-fold-em dept.

A group of 15 students along with their teacher are claiming a new paper folding record. The group claims to have folded (in the same direction) 13,000 feet of toilet paper in half 13 times, breaking the old 2002 record of 12 times. From the article: "[teacher] Tanton has been leading students from St. Mark's on attempts to break the record for five years. But after several failed attempts, Tanton asked the MIT origami club, OrigaMIT, to help him and his students get access to MIT's Infinite Corridor."

19 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Legit. by blair1q · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The losers complain that the folded unit can't stand on its own.

    But I don't see a requirement that it stand at all, merely that it is folded. Which it is.

    2^13 is 8192 layers.

    The really interesting thing is that it doesn't tear. There's stretching and compressing involved in folding things, and toilet paper isn't all that structurally sound. Their folding method seems to make it flow properly to keep the stresses from damaging it.

    1. Re:Legit. by __aamnbm3774 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I don't like it because MIT is just trying to outshine a girl in high school. Britney Gallivan is the one who came up with the equations and broke the old stigma that a paper can only be folded in half 7 times.

      Screw MIT and their infinite budget for media attention. Her equations showed you can indeed have more folds if your paper is long and thin enough. This 'professor' needs to find something more worthwhile to do besides take away from a kid who had a great discovery.

    2. Re:Legit. by v1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That brings up an interesting question concerning steel folding, like what was done with japanese swords.

      If you were to say, take a bar of copper 10 ft x 1" x 1/4", and bend it in the middle (fold it) and then when it was folded, beat it out so its back to 10' x 1" x 1/4", and repeat the process several times, you could theoretically get a lot more than 13 folds out of it. When you were done each layer would be like gold leaf though.

      The thickness of the material is ultimately what causes problems with folding, which is why TP is a good choice. (the cheap stuff is really thin, and it is somewhat stretchable) But you can get metal down to an atom or three thick without TOO much work. (as with gold leaf)

      I wonder if this would count?

      I also wonder also how they obtained a single roll of TP that long, or did they have to patch together several rolls? I'm not talking about the little ones at home, I'm assuming they use the big (12" or so?) rolls used in public restrooms. Still, I don't think one of those would be enough, that looked like 3 or 4 of those rolls worth of TP, but maybe that was just the effect of it getting uncompressed and air into it that fluffed it up?

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  2. Re:and yet by blair1q · · Score: 3, Funny

    First, paper folding. Then, protein folding. Then, a cure for cancer.

    Then profit, of course.

  3. Re:How appropriate by eleuthero · · Score: 4, Informative

    A local high school (albeit a private boarding type of one) used connections they had with college students in a paper folding club to make use of the club's access to MIT buildings (in this case, a really long hallway). This has nothing to do with the college's academic programs but rather with its social programs.

  4. Re:How appropriate by ALeavitt · · Score: 2

    Yeah, what kind of jackass would want to pursue knowledge just for the sake of knowledge? They should have some kind of institution where those wackos are all segregated so that they can do their useless research in peace and not be a nuisance to the rest of us conscientious workers.

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  5. Re:How appropriate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Other than the fact that this attempt was made on a college campus, what does it have to do with a college degree? They're not college students.

  6. Re:How appropriate by brian0918 · · Score: 2, Funny

    What kind of knowledge was gained from this exercise? The proper method and means for wiping Godzilla's ass?

  7. Re:How appropriate by HappyHead · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What kind of knowledge was gained from this exercise?

    Well, for one, the high school students in question now have an excellent grasp of just how fast exponential increases really can get. You'd think that toilet paper is pretty thin, right? And folding it in half doesn't really make a noteworthy increase in thickness, it's still really thin - but do it again, and you've got 8 sheets thickness, then 16, then 32, 64, 128, and so on, until you've got 2^13 sheets thickness of toilet paper, just from folding it in half, and suddenly it's not so thin. For people who've been doing advanced math most of their lives, that's not much of a realization, but for kids who are just learning about things like that, it's an eye opener.

  8. Re:How appropriate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Education == Statism

    Good libertarians OPPOSE all forms of education, particularly education about economics.

  9. Re:How appropriate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I am a toilet paper manufacturer and I approve of this.
    This should be part of the regular math edication.

  10. Re:Rules? by MrLogic17 · · Score: 2

    I don't think they have a true 13th fold, as definded by the previous record holder:

    "For a sheet to be considered folded n times it must be convincingly documented and independently verified that (2n) unique layers are in a straight line. Sections that do not meet these criteria are not counted as a part of the folded section. "
    http://pomonahistorical.org/12times.htm

  11. Re:How appropriate by mangu · · Score: 2

    Education == Statism

    Good libertarians OPPOSE all forms of education, particularly education about economics.

    Your propaganda is stupid. Therefore you are uneducated. My conclusion is that you are a libertarian.

    Please turn in your bust of Keynes and your autographed first editions of "Das Kapital" and Mao's Red Book.

  12. Re:How appropriate by bestalexguy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Modders, please, don't push "Informative" when you mean "Insightful"

  13. Re:and yet by mwvdlee · · Score: 3, Funny

    Then get back to work!

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  14. So Cool by FrankDrebin · · Score: 4, Funny

    13,000 feet of toilet paper in half 13 times

    Wow, they must really have their shit together.

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  15. Re:and yet by guspasho · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not while you're idly commenting on /. articles, you aren't.

  16. Re:How appropriate by lwsimon · · Score: 2

    Selection bias. As a libertarian, it's obvious to me that the simple fact of becoming a libertarian means that you are likely to be interested enough in Economics to take classes.

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  17. Re:How appropriate by redemtionboy · · Score: 2

    I can't say the same for myself. I didn't subscribe to libertarian ideals until after I learned more about economics and historical precedent with foreign policy. Obviously there are still Democrats and Republicans who have interest in economics, or there wouldn't be such contrasting opinions on the subject matter. Unfortunately this study didn't survey the students before and after, but I would note that the more economic classes a student took the more likely they were to be libertarians, so I would suggest the relationship seems to suggest the classes have an influence in ideology as it is a build rather than just a jump at a certain point.