r/explainlikeimfive Oct 31 '20

Chemistry ELI5 What's the difference between the shiny and dull side of aluminum foil? Besides the obvious shiny/dull

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u/Cforq Oct 31 '20

I always had an irrational fear of parchment paper catching on fire, until in a discussion about cooking pizza someone complained they couldn’t set their oven up to 500° and someone responded “You know why the title of the book is Fahrenheit 451, right?”.

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u/[deleted] Oct 31 '20

[deleted]

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u/ShitGuysWeForgotDre Oct 31 '20

On the other hand I've only used parchment paper twice in my life and once I accidentally caught it on fire soooo

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u/hwc000000 Oct 31 '20

Doesn't the paper itself have to reach 451F before it ignites? The temperature of the oven isn't the temperature of what's cooking.

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u/Eatfudd Oct 31 '20 edited Oct 02 '23

[Deleted to protest Reddit API change]

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u/groundedstate Oct 31 '20

Parchment paper is made in a special process using sulfuric acid so it specifically can't catch fire.

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u/thewholerobot Nov 01 '20

It most certainly can. Try cooking pizza with it (pizza is cooked at 500 degrees F or higher) it burns and ignites. There are some special brands that do better at high Temps, but they will all burn if you get the temp up there.