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Can tin foil hats block anything? (2015) (physics.stackexchange.com)
47 points by gitinit on Feb 12, 2024 | hide | past | favorite | 40 comments



The MIT paper linked in the second answer (http://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csai...) is a great read on its own.


> We hope this report will encourage the paranoid community to develop improved helmet designs to avoid falling prey to these shortcomings.

Can we just replace tin foil hats with Faraday cage!


Putting fashion aside, probably useful for both UV blocking (turn the hat into a hijab for better coverage) and also should reflect IR so reduce the chance of heatstroke when working in the sun. Disclaimer: avoid working/exercise in hot/humid conditions at all! Work at dusk/dawn or even wait for a cool day.


I wore one as fancy dress once. The foil is very good insulation and gets uncomfortably hot even when just sitting down.


Isn't that essentially the point of an emergency/space blanket? It's essentially what the JWST uses for a solar shield as well. The $.99 item you buy at any camping store probably cost NASA more than that though.


>avoid working/exercise in hot/humid conditions at all! Work at dusk/dawn or even wait for a cool day.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you live in the Southern Hemisphere.


Why? This is the same concept in any hot/humid conditions during the summer regardless of hemisphere. It's good advice even if you hear it during the winter.


People have different standards. I'm whining about the heat at 26 degrees, but it's not getting me out of mowing the lawn.

And not working during a hot winter day is comedy sketch territory. That snow isn't going to shovel itself!


...it's not dangerously hot if there is snow on the ground...


You've inverted the season, so now you need to invert the temp as well.


So don't... lie still and avoid generating heat in the snow?


The southern hemisphere has the same weather as the northern hemisphere, but with reversed seasonality. You might be thinking of the American subtropics.


Because it's freezing in the northern hemisphere right now, that's why.


They can block incoming interest from romantic partners.


Of course they can. They block a frequency range. Is that useful? Probably not.


See the MIT paper linked from a lower ranked answer - they can actually amplify the radio waves, by as much as 30dB! That's a 1000x increase. Now that's a proper conspiracy - to cause people to wear those in order to amplify the effects.


True, it blocks some radio waves and amplifies others. But maybe it amplifies good mind-control signals and diminishes bad ones? Only one way to find out! adds 32 rolls of foil to cart


Yeah but not alien radio waves...

clearly you aren't paying attention.


Yes! Microwave attacks like against international embassy workers are FOILED by aluminum hats.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/science/sonic-attack-cuba...



What about tinfoil covered walls? Would living next to a couple of 4G/5G towers be improved by tinfoiling the walls in that direction or a full faraday cage setup is needed?


The top answer is gold. Short, and worth the read; gave me a good laugh.


Only problem is the links are bogus. I was hoping to see an actual example of somebody being rejected in a marriage proposal because of their hat


Like other hats, tin foil would be effective in preventing sunlight burning your skin and causing melanoma etc.

Would be a useful material to have in a desert island scenario.


It would also reflect light significantly, which could be useful to get attention from rescuers.


Was just going to comment that myself. It is a useful property for us pasty nerds when we venture out.


probably not too many have actually used a room-sized tin foil hat, but i have - we used to have a faraday cage enclosing our coulter counter (measured cells in liquid) at university of london, back in the early 80s. room to sit in and do stuff. don't know if this is necessary any more?


My longitudinal study has found that tin foil hats, when prepared and worn as directed, block 100% alien parasitical freqencies, 97.8132% of the attempts by FEDGOV to take over the minds of minunderstood scientists, and 2.091234% of the people who use verbal frequencies to ask questions about where to obtain their own tin foil hats.

d2. h4x02 f023v32


They can block water but not much RF


The post acknowledges this, but it’s more about any actual frequency range. I just think it’s an interesting question.


> While the underlying concept is good, the typical foil helmet fails in design and execution.

8-)


Presumably the flawed plans are distributed deliberately by the lizard people for a false sense of security.


They can block someone finding a mate and procreating


It's a joke that as far as I know I am the only person finds funny but I've always thought that tin-foil hats need a grounding strap as otherwise they would act more like an antenna dish than a shield.


What big tin foil doesn't want ya to know! That's hilarious


The approach of women. Very effective birth control. See [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GI_glasses


Ironic how turn tables[1], those types of glasses are trendy and hip now.

[1]: https://youtu.be/6FwmGLzyRDk?t=14


It's ironic that the main photo on the page is a fairly attractive man who imo can pull off the look.


This looks very similar to the timeless Rayban Wayfarer design.


The old S9 version actually look really cool!




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