Why does aluminum foil have one shiny side and one with a matte finish?
37 points
4 days ago
| 5 comments
| bookofjoe2.blogspot.com
| HN
CLPadvocate
4 days ago
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> Yet many people persist in calling aluminum foil "tinfoil."

> We chemists get annoyed at things like that.

> Now, about aluminum foil.

Actually, most chemists are profoundly annoyed at the Americans' inability to spell aluminium properly...

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dpe82
50 minutes ago
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Sir Humphry Davy first isolated the stuff and he called it aluminum, so that's good enough for me.
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st_goliath
13 minutes ago
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Well, the name Davy originally proposed was alumium.

I propose we switch to that instead, so everyone can be annoyed equally and in the same way.

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thomassmith65
28 minutes ago
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It isn't clear if that is a dig at Americans having their own spelling of aluminum/aluminium, or ignorance that Americans have their own spelling.
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CamperBob2
1 hour ago
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IUPAC recognizes both spellings.

Also, speak up, we can't hear you from all the way up here ON THE MOON.

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foobarbecue
1 hour ago
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It's cold and lonely here on the moon. -- Jonathan Coulton
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antonvs
1 hour ago
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Did visiting the moon damage your hearing? Last I checked there haven’t been any Americans on the moon for over half a century.

Perhaps if you used the metric system…

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doodlebugging
17 minutes ago
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...and the SAE system like me (older American here) then you would be able to provide the answers that confuse your audience the most when they ask about volumes, velocities, dimensions, etc. and you would have as much fun in life as I have had. Your metric system is for people who need to have things simplified in order for them to be understandable and relatable. It's about as dumbed down as you can make something. Lowest common denominator type stuff. Americans have always thrived on challenge and that is why we stupidly cling to the complexity of the SAE system of units. It fits so we sits.
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hacker_homie
52 minutes ago
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They do use the metric system at NASA maybe that’s why they haven’t been back to the moon.
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antonvs
49 minutes ago
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Yes but their US contractors don’t all use metric, which is what caused them to miss Mars that one time.
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r2_pilot
45 minutes ago
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If I recall correctly they didn't miss Mars. Quite the opposite, really.
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JSR_FDED
41 seconds ago
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Mars missed them?
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johng
3 days ago
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I always heard the shiny side reflected heat better. So that side should face food you are trying to heat up in the oven.

Any truth to that I wonder?

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ahhhhnoooo
1 hour ago
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No. Aluminum foil has the same material properties with respect to convection and conduction of heat no matter which side faces out. The only heat that would be different would be radiated heat, which your food won't have a ton of, and even then, the dull side is still quite reflective. It's maybe one of those "technically" correct statements that the shiny side reflects more heat, but for the application of cooking, the impact is effectively zero. The retention of steam is going to be such a larger factor the side you use will effectively make no difference.
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hamstergene
56 minutes ago
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I can speak for myself: when I ask if the shiny side reflects the heat better, I don't mean to also ask if the difference is significant. It's really just curiosity, whether my school physics intuition holds up or lies to me, that's all.

So, "technically yes" is good enough answer for me.

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sdeframond
43 minutes ago
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Is it technically true, though? The matte side has a difuse reflection, which does not mean it reflects less. It just scatters more.
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sawjet
1 hour ago
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The shiny and dull sides look like perfect mirrors in IR wavelengths.
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botusaurus
37 minutes ago
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so if you skipped the final rolling it would be shiny on both sides?

is this being produced?

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jmward01
10 minutes ago
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I believe 'heavy duty' foil is sold. I don't have any to check but my guess is both sides are shiny. In fact, I think I remember both sides being shiny the last time I used it...
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dnemmers
4 days ago
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“The final rolling is therefore done on a sandwich of two sheets, face to face.”
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slau
1 hour ago
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Whomever wrote that clearly has never made or eaten a sandwich. Without something in between the two layers, it’s hardly a sandwich.
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mjevans
1 hour ago
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The foil is the 'meat' the rollers are the bread.
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perilunar
1 hour ago
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An open sandwich can have two layers.
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doodlebugging
31 minutes ago
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>An open sandwich can have two layers.(..)

...and if one layer is meat and the other is a perfect meat vehicle, like a tortilla, you can simply fold it over the meat and wrap all the meat goodness is the proper warmth of a tortilla. Food, the way food was intended.

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volemo
1 hour ago
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Not homogenous though.
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perilunar
1 hour ago
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If it was any more homogeneous it would just be a piece of bread.
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socalgal2
1 hour ago
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that's not a sandwich, it's a pizza
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perilunar
1 hour ago
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A pizza is an open sandwich
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ekropotin
55 minutes ago
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No, pizza is a toast per Cube Rule - https://cuberule.com/
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perilunar
41 minutes ago
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Toast is an open sandwich, unless it has no topping, in which case it is just bread. Also their definition of cake as having multiple layers makes no sense, and would rule out most actual cakes.
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rich_sasha
45 minutes ago
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Which side is better at reflecting woke beams from space?
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NewCzech
41 minutes ago
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People deeply understand the physics of tinfoil hats. A properly constructed tinfoil hat needs two layers, with the shiny sides facing in opposite directions. Only the shiny side reflects brain waves. You need to reflect in both directions: one direction keeps the government from using waves to put ideas in your head; the other is to keep the government from reading your mind.
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Etheryte
37 minutes ago
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The study [0] linked at the bottom of the article has good insights on that, plus it's a marvelous read all around.

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20060612212953/http://people.csa...

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red75prime
30 minutes ago
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Aren't they from somewhat below waist level?
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