Puzzle : Folding paper 42 times would it reach the moon?

[TransAmDan]

Came across an interesting puzzle 7 years ago. A question was how many itmes would you need to fold a sheet of paper for its thickness to reach the moon. The pxiels of paper could be an infinate size, no concerns of fold radius. So folding the paper, doubles thickness each time, how many times would you need to double the tickness to reach the moon. My mind would say thousants. However whipped up an excel sheet and its far lower.

Folds	mm	m	km
0	0.1	0.0001	0.0000001
1	0.2	0.0002	0.0000002
2	0.4	0.0004	0.0000004
3	0.8	0.0008	0.0000008
4	1.6	0.0016	0.0000016
5	3.2	0.0032	0.0000032
6	6.4	0.0064	0.0000064
7	12.8	0.0128	0.0000128
8	25.6	0.0256	0.0000256
9	51.2	0.0512	0.0000512
10	102.4	0.1024	0.0001024
11	204.8	0.2048	0.0002048
12	409.6	0.4096	0.0004096
13	819.2	0.8192	0.0008192
14	1638.4	1.6384	0.0016384
15	3276.8	3.2768	0.0032768
16	6553.6	6.5536	0.0065536
17	13107.2	13.1072	0.0131072
18	26214.4	26.2144	0.0262144
19	52428.8	52.4288	0.0524288
20	104857.6	104.8576	0.1048576
21	209715.2	209.7152	0.2097152
22	419430.4	419.4304	0.4194304
23	838860.8	838.8608	0.8388608
24	1677721.6	1677.7216	1.6777216
25	3355443.2	3355.4432	3.3554432
26	6710886.4	6710.8864	6.7108864
27	13421772.8	13421.7728	13.4217728
28	26843545.6	26843.5456	26.8435456
29	53687091.2	53687.0912	53.6870912
30	107374182.4	107374.1824	107.3741824
31	214748364.8	214748.3648	214.7483648
32	429496729.6	429496.7296	429.4967296
33	858993459.2	858993.4592	858.9934592
34	1717986918	1717986.918	1717.986918
35	3435973837	3435973.837	3435.973837
36	6871947674	6871947.674	6871.947674
37	13743895347	13743895.35	13743.89535
38	27487790694	27487790.69	27487.79069
39	54975581389	54975581.39	54975.58139
40	109951162778	109951162.8	109951.1628
41	219902325555	219902325.6	219902.3256
42	439804651110	439804651.1	439804.6511

The moon is around 384,000km a way. So infact folding the sheet of paper 42 times gets you there. Still dosn't sound right.

 

[v8dve]

Heard a similar one:

Imagine if you start with one drop of water in a stadium, and double it every minute. So that means 2 drops in two minutes; 4 drops in three minutes, 8 in four minutes, etc.

It would take approx 52 minutes to fill the stadium to the top (depending on size)

How full was it after 45mins? just 7% full.

Tis all about exponential growth, now apply the same theory to rising seawater levels, Government Debt and population growth etc.

1p doubled everyday is £5 million after day 30

Mind boggling

 

[chris68coupe]

There is a similar problem with a Blacksmith shoeing a horse and how he charges for the nails. Can't remember the answer/solution.