Fundamental forces – the Universe with Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith

Let’s explore the nature of the Universe with five fun and fascinating fast facts about the four fundamental forces, an interview with Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith, an astrophysicist who knows a lot about the Universe, and a surprising paper folding activity for you to try yourself at home.

Written, presented, and produced by Jenny Lynch.
Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: https://www.creativescience.com.au

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Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

05:11 Interview with Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith

11:29 Paper folding activity

Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith: www.lisaharveysmith.com

Future You: www.futureyouaustralia.com.au  

Paper folding activity

How many times do you think you can fold a piece of paper in half?

You will need: a long piece of toilet paper.

1. Lay the toilet paper out on the floor and fold it in half lengthways. That’s one fold.
2. Keep folding the toilet paper in half over and over again and remember to count each fold. After 4 or 5 folds, the bundle of paper will be getting fairly thick. Can you keep folding?
3. Keep folding until you cannot fold the paper in half anymore.

What’s happening?

The toilet paper is pretty thin, but every time you fold it in half, the thickness of the bundle of paper doubles. After one fold, it is twice as thick as the original toilet paper. After the second fold, the bundle is 4 times as thick. After the third fold, the bundle is 8 times as thick, then 16 times, and then 32 times, and after the sixth fold, the bundle is 64 times thicker than a single sheet of toilet paper.

The current world record for folding a piece of paper is 12 times and the record was set in 2002 by Britney Gallivan, a high school student in the United States. Britney used mathematical equations to work out the size and thickness of the paper she needed to achieve the record, and the tissue paper she used was over one kilometre long! After the 12th fold, the bundle of paper was 4,096 times as thick as a single layer of tissue paper.