If you could fold a piece of paper 42 times, would it really reach the Moon?

Yes, it would.

If you could fold a standard piece of paper (about 0.1 millimeters thick) 42 times, its thickness would grow exponentially. Because the thickness doubles with every fold, the math works like this: 0.1 millimeters multiplied by 2 to the power of 42.

That comes out to approximately 439,804 kilometers. Since the average distance from the Earth to the Moon is about 384,400 kilometers, the paper would indeed reach the Moon with a significant amount of extra length to spare.

In reality, however, this is physically impossible. The force required to fold a piece of paper that many times would be immense, and the paper would far exceed the size of the observable universe long before reaching 42 folds.