Why does aluminum foil have one shiny side and one with a matte finish?

(bookofjoe2.blogspot.com)

45 points by surprisetalk4 days ago

6 comments

gethly3 minutes ago
aluminium :D
johng3 days ago
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?
- ahhhhnoooo1 hour ago
 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.
 - hamstergene1 hour ago
 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.
 - sdeframond57 minutes ago
 Is it technically true, though? The matte side has a difuse reflection, which does not mean it reflects less. It just scatters more.
- sawjet1 hour ago
 The shiny and dull sides look like perfect mirrors in IR wavelengths.
botusaurus51 minutes ago
so if you skipped the final rolling it would be shiny on both sides?is this being produced?
- jmward0124 minutes ago
 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...
dnemmers4 days ago
“The final rolling is therefore done on a sandwich of two sheets, face to face.”
- slau1 hour ago
 Whomever wrote that clearly has never made or eaten a sandwich. Without something in between the two layers, it’s hardly a sandwich.
 - mjevans1 hour ago
 The foil is the 'meat' the rollers are the bread.
 - perilunar1 hour ago
 An open sandwich can have two layers.
 - doodlebugging45 minutes ago
 >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.
 - volemo1 hour ago
 Not homogenous though.
 - perilunar1 hour ago
 If it was any more homogeneous it would just be a piece of bread.
 - socalgal21 hour ago
 that's not a sandwich, it's a pizza
 - perilunar1 hour ago
 A pizza is an open sandwich
 ekropotin1 hour ago
 No, pizza is a toast per Cube Rule - <a href="https://cuberule.com/" rel="nofollow">https://cuberule.com/</a>
 perilunar55 minutes ago
 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.
rich_sasha1 hour ago
Which side is better at reflecting woke beams from space?
- NewCzech56 minutes ago
 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.
- Etheryte51 minutes ago
 The study [0] linked at the bottom of the article has good insights on that, plus it's a marvelous read all around.[0] <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060612212953/http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20060612212953/http://people.csa...</a>
- red75prime44 minutes ago
 Aren't they from somewhat below waist level a parte posteriori?
CLPadvocate4 days ago
> 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...
- elric10 minutes ago
 > Actually, most chemists are profoundly annoyed at the Americans' inability to spell aluminium properly...That's just patently false. Anyone who's had any sort of education in chemistry/physics is aware of the history of the word and doesn't give a damn.
- dpe821 hour ago
 Sir Humphry Davy first isolated the stuff and he called it aluminum, so that's good enough for me.
 - st_goliath27 minutes ago
 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.
 - dpe829 minutes ago
 I accept your proposal; alumium it is.
- gethly2 minutes ago
 Try to make them pronounce nuclear instead of nucelar :D
- thomassmith6543 minutes ago
 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.
- CamperBob21 hour ago
 IUPAC recognizes both spellings.Also, speak up, we can't hear you from all the way up here ON THE MOON.
 - st_goliath12 minutes ago
 > can't hear you from all the way up here ON THE MOON.cough<a href="https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-German-phrase-Hinter-dem-Mond-leben-translate-into-and-mean-in-English" rel="nofollow">https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-German-phrase-Hinter-dem...</a>
 - foobarbecue1 hour ago
 It's cold and lonely here on the moon. -- Jonathan Coulton
 - antonvs1 hour ago
 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…
 - doodlebugging31 minutes ago
 ...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.
 - hacker_homie1 hour ago
 They do use the metric system at NASA maybe that’s why they haven’t been back to the moon.
 - antonvs1 hour ago
 Yes but their US contractors don’t all use metric, which is what caused them to miss Mars that one time.
 r2_pilot59 minutes ago
 If I recall correctly they didn't miss Mars. Quite the opposite, really.
 JSR_FDED14 minutes ago
 Mars missed them?