6mo ago

xkcd #3033: Origami Black Hole

Origami Black Hole

You may notice the first half of these instructions are similar to the instructions for a working nuclear fusion device. After the first few dozen steps, be sure to press down firmly and fold quickly to overcome fusion pressure.

https://explainxkcd.com/3033/

41 comments

The maximum number of times a piece of paper has ever been folded in half is 11, thanks to my boys Adam and Jamie. https://partsolutions.com/the-law-of-seven-is-it-impossible-to-fold-paper-in-half-more-than-7-times/
- There was a girl who folded a piece of paper in half 12 times in 2002... Link
  
  I think she didn't fold it in half then half. Buy I'm not sure.
- I like the part where it shatters/explodes.
Fun fact: if you do that 42 times, the piece of paper will be so thick it will reach the moon
- At some point the thickness of the stack will exceed both the width and breadth of the "faces" of the paper, at which point you seriously have to consider in which dimension the folds should continue.
- 1mm * 2^42 = 4'398'046.511104 km
  Distance to moon: 405'500km
  I'm sorry I ever doubted you. I shall immediately undo my downvote.
  
  What kind of upside down ass country/region uses apostrophes for thousands separator?
  
  1mm thick is no longer in the realm if paper but into some form of heavy cardboard. That said, even at .05mm, its still a pretty think wad when folded up.
- I love this fact so much, because it always blows your mind.
I didn't start the day expecting to have the experience of suddenly wondering why I'd never thought before about the question of how many times you'd have to fold a piece of paper in half before you got a black hole and then knowing the answer in about three seconds, but given that I did it's no surprise that it's due to xkcd.
Help, halfway through folding my paper turned into nitrogen!
- Keep folding until you hit Fe or Ni.
Huh, I've always thought that a black hole required a lot of mass, not just a lot of density. Apparently not true?
- They can be any mass, it's density that matters. The smaller ones will not do much damage before they evaporate.
  
  Well, a black hole with the mass of an A4 page is gonna evaporate almost instantly, turning all of that mass into energy. Those 5 grams will give you about a 100 kT explosion.
  
  They might do damage when they evaporate, though, due to the energy release
  
  Evaporate?
  
  Hawinking radiation does a lot more damage the smaller a black hole gets
A little known fact: if you were able to fold a paper sheet in half 24 times, it would become wider than the whole known universe, and thicker than your mom’s ass
180 or 50
- Guess it’s "180 or so times", but it really looks like 50
  
  you are of course correct

41 comments