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Paper folding

 

Art of folding objects out of paper without cutting, pasting, or decorating. Its early history is unknown, but it seems to have developed from the older art of folding cloth. Origami has reached its greatest development in Japan, with hundreds of traditional folds and an extensive literature dealing with the art. There are two types of Japanese folds: figures used in ceremonial etiquette, and objects such as animals, flowers, furniture, and human figures. Some objects have amusing action features; best known is the bird that flaps its wings when its tail is pulled. Paper folding has also flourished in Spain, South America, and Germany.

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Paper folding is the art of folding paper; it is known in many societies that use paper. In much of the West, the term origami is used synonymously with paper folding, though the term properly only refers to the art of paper folding in Japan.

Forms of paper folding:

The claim of the seven fold limit

A popular belief holds that it is impossible to fold a sheet of paper in half more than 7 times, folding in any direction, as the challenge had existed for many years and had never been solved. This belief was debunked by then high school student Britney Gallivan who successfully folded a piece of paper 12 times.[1] More importantly she developed the mathematical and physical explanations for the actual folding limits of incompressible materials when folding in one or two directions. After the mathematics were developed she demonstrated folding in half 12 times both by folding paper in a single direction and by folding gold foil while rotating the folding 90 degrees after each fold.

The television series MythBusters "busted the myth" of the 7 fold limit by folding taped-together sheets in half and turning 90 degrees each time, for a total of 11 folds. The first eight folds were completed by hand, while the rest were completed using both steam rollers and fork lifts.[2] This was accomplished by using not a single piece of paper but 17 large rolls of paper taped together to form a very large yet relatively thin "sheet."

Folding a piece of paper in half 100 times, if it were possible, would produce a stack of paper approximately 8×1022 miles in height.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Folding Paper in Half 12 Times". http://pomonahistorical.org/12times.htm. 
  2. ^ NASA - This Week at NASA, Week Ending Nov. 17, 2006

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Paper folding" Read more