Hall of Fame

1. ozo296,662
2. aburr224,290
3. d-glitch117,939
4. thehagman110,145
5. Interactive...60,450
6. NovaDeni...55,402
7. Infinity0852,428
8. WaterStreet43,415
9. yuk9926,300
10. Gwynfor...23,280
11. BigRat18,912
12. matthews...15,204
13. RobinD14,866
14. Obly13,800
15. wizzardo...13,000
16. tliotta12,992
17. nickg512,510
18. sdstuber12,496
19. richdiesal12,032
20. t0t09,824
21. uucknaaa9,164
22. harfang8,800
23. whatisittel...8,300
24. MidnightOne7,744
25. JoseParrot7,560

1. ozo1,872,108
2. aburr588,421
3. d-glitch507,534
4. Infinity08460,053
5. Gwynfor...321,904
6. NovaDeni...287,616
7. grg99196,577
8. mgh_mgh...161,482
9. Interactive...154,815
10. thehagman126,595
11. neopolitan113,204
12. JR2003102,830
13. BigRat87,427
14. sunnycoder83,470
15. WaterStreet77,713
16. Arthur_...69,774
17. snoyes_jw69,626
18. harfang66,844
19. PointyEars56,706
20. RobinD50,012
21. wytcom49,614
22. deighton45,182
23. SunBow40,795
24. Talmash37,765
25. rjkimble36,065

	[x] Posted via EE Mobile
	Search, ask, and monitor your questions on the go with EE Mobile. Visit Experts Exchange from your mobile device and never be out of touch again.

Question

	[x] Attachment Details

[x]

The Solution Rating System

With so many solutions, how can you tell which solutions are most likely to help you and which ones are not? To provide you with a tool to use, we rate our solutions based on various elements that most accurately determine if a solution is a quality solution. To explain what factors affect the solution rating, here are the elements we take into consideration when formulating our solution rating.

The Grade of the Solution
The Zone Rank of the Expert Providing the Solution
The Number of Author and Expert Comments
The Number of Experts Contributing
The Feedback of the Community

Your Input Matters
Because of the way the system is set up, the most important variable in this equation is you. As a member of Experts Exchange, you are able to cast your vote on the quality of the solutions in regard to how complete, accurate, helpful and easy to understand each solution is. When you provide your feedback, each rating is adjusted accordingly. So, if you see a solution that has a poor rating that you think is a good solution, let us know by rating it. As you do, the rating will be adjusted and will become more accurate for other members of our site.

If you have any suggestions that you would like to make for our rating system, please ask a question in the Suggestions Zone of Community Support.

Thank you!

8.2

Shiny aluminum foil??

Asked by grg99 in Math & Science

Tags: foil, aluminum

If you've read "The straight dope" series of books, in one of them they explain how and why aluminum foil is shiny on one side and satiny on the other side. But that's not the question here. What I want to know is: Whenever I see bare aluminum, it's usually not shiny. The books say this is because aluminum tarnishes very very quickly-- you can scratch it, and the scratch is shiny for just a few seconds. Airplanes, at least those that are not painted, are usually shined up with some special abrasive and wax compound-- the abrasive removes the tarnish (aluminum oxide Id guess), at the same time the wax quickly covers up the shiny aluminum and prevents immediate tarnishing. You can even buy this polish in many stores, although it's rarely used-- we're just used to screen doors and windows being a dull color. BTW aluminum can take a MARVELOUS shine.

But that's all just background. The real question is: how does the shiny side of the foil STAY shiny? it's probably not a wax-- you can dig up old foil from campgrounds that is still shiny after I'd assume a few years out in the wet world. And a wax would make an ungodly smell in the oven and contaminate the food too. So that seems to rule out waxes, oils, lacquers, etc.... I wonder how it's done, and also why we don't see the same process done to other aluminum items?

Not of earth-shaking importance, but the question popped into my head while I was driving and it really startled me. Almost hit the brake.

Get your answer NOW

20091111-EE-VQP-89

Shiny aluminum foil??

Asked by grg99 in Math & Science

Tags: foil, aluminum

About this solution