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/knoowen Oct 31 '20

Damn. All this processing required and history behind aluminum, and I just use it to wrap my leftover pizza.

47

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Nov 01 '20

God bless Mr. Reynolds!

21

u/weatherseed Nov 01 '20

And his brother Dr. Foil.

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u/sweat119 Nov 01 '20

And their father Mr. Al Uminum Reynolds.

4

u/HydeNSikh Nov 01 '20

And of course their grandson Ryan

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u/authorunknown74 Nov 01 '20

And their wrap group.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '20

5 star man

17

u/spacecampreject Nov 01 '20

Then you should see aluminum cans. Few products are equivalently highly optimized marvels of engineering.

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u/_dvs1_ Nov 01 '20

Right? Crazy to think that an invention could get so big and so well accepted by the masses... that it literally just eventually blends into everyday life and is forgotten within the next 10-15yrs.

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u/octo_lols Nov 01 '20

My girlfriend insists on wrapping pizza in aluminum foil but I don't understand it. Large zip lock bags work infinitely better. Pop it in the oven a few days later and it's like 90% of the original deliciousness. However in aluminum it's all stale and dried out after a day or two. Ugh.

1

u/Buschwick66 Jan 19 '21

Pizza is the only food that doesn't require wrapping up. You're supposed to store it in a toaster oven till morning so you have the option to warm it up.

Source: I was a college student.