Why does aluminum foil cool faster than a slice of pizza?

Aluminum has low heat density and radiates heat quickly. Pizza, as it turns out, has some really complicated thermal characteristics that tend to make it stay hot for a long time. read more

Pizza is a worse conductor of heat than aluminum, so it tends to keep more of it's heat inside. And because it's relatively thick, it has a good deal of mass in which to store that heat. If you could smash a slice of pizza until it was as thin as aluminum foil, I assure you it would cool very, very quickly. read more

Aluminum foil has a lower specific heat than a fatty food such as pizza. A lower specific heat means it takes less energy to heat it up, and it releases energy easier. read more

There is very little actual aluminum and it is spread over a relatively large area (standard aluminum foil is about 0.0007 inches thick; heavy duty foil is about twice as thick). As a result cool air outside the oven cools the foil quickly when the oven door is opened and the pizza and foil are removed. read more

As a result cool air outside the oven cools the foil quickly when the oven door is opened and the pizza and foil are removed. Also your fingers themselves have a lot more mass than the aluminum foil that they are in contact with so usually only the top surface of the skin would be heated when you touch the foil. read more