Why does aluminum foil never get hot to the touch. You can leave it in the oven and touch it directly out of the oven without it feeling hot. Why is this?
In: Physics
Aluminum has a very low specific heat capacity and foil is very thin, these combine together to get it a very low thermal mass (it cannot hold a lot of heat). It also has a very high surface area to volume ratio and a very high thermal conductivity. This means that the heat that it can store can move in and out of it very very fast.
When you combine these, Aluminum foil can go from red hot to room temperature in a matter of seconds. The very low thermal mass means that with very thin foil it might be 400 degrees, but putting that heat into your finger only raises your finger by 20 degrees, and results in no burn.
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