Towers of hanoi

It is said that at a great temple in South Asia, there is this sacred Tower, a device with which priests there mark the time remaining till the end of the whole world. The tower consists of 3 diamond needles standing upright, around one of which 64 golden plates with holes in the centre have been placed, one atop another. The disks in the stack are placed according to their sizes, with the biggest at the bottom, and the smallest topmost. Day and night priests at the temple transfer the golden plates thus stacked to the other two needles, always observing the rule that no larger plate shall be placed on a smaller plate. It is believed that when all of the 64 plates have been transferred onto another needle, in its original arrangement, namely the biggest at the bottom and the smallest topmost, the world comes to its end. Suppose the priests can move one plate a second, how long will it be before they reach the fatal moment?


whim