Sir Humphry Davy first isolated the stuff and he called it aluminum, so that's good enough for me.

Humphrey Davy, the British chemist who performed early work to isolate the element, and who initially named it, called it 'aluminum'. Americans mostly followed him, but the British changed later at the complaints of the French, Swedish, and Germans that it used essentially English roots rather than Latin ones. Which, considering that we now have elements named such things as Tennessine, seems to be a bit of an argument that doesn't quite apply anymore.

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.

> 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.

Try to make them pronounce nuclear instead of nucelar :D

IUPAC recognizes both spellings.

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

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.

The shiny and dull sides look like perfect mirrors in IR wavelengths.

I recall similar advice around mylar heat blankets. Perhaps those got mixed up?

Whomever wrote that clearly has never made or eaten a sandwich. Without something in between the two layers, it’s hardly a sandwich.

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...

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.

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...

Aren't they from somewhat below waist level a parte posteriori?