History Main / TinfoilHat

* The 1952 edition of ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'' advised readers worried about nuclear war to make cloaks of aluminium foil, "and you will be as safe as you can get. Aluminium reflects incredible amounts of heat, which is apparently the worst hazard if you are close to wear a bomb falls." Lets hope those DirtyCommunists aren't using A-bombs in the megaton range, eh?

-->-- '''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space'''

Don't mind that, I'm protected cause I made this hat]]-]

* In ''Literature/ISitBehindTheEyes'', Terry's Uncle is an [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} eccentric]] Parapsychologist who wears one for work. It doesn't do much good, as the titular Entity [[OrificeInvasion enters people through the mouth]].

To elaborate: To shield off radiation, you need steel. Electromagnetic waves consist of alternating areas of electric fields and magnetic fields. To reflect them, you need a material that shorts both electric fields and magnetic fields. In terms of shorting electric fields, any metal (being conductors) does an adequate job - aluminium (which so called tinfoil is usually made of, despite its name) is even a very good conductor - but to short magnetic field you need a ferromagnetic metal, like iron, nickel or cobalt. As iron is seldom used nowadays, the best choice is steel (an alloy of iron, carbon and tiny amounts of other components). Just take a look at a video-recorder: Videorecorders may have fancy chassis made of aluminium, but if you look inside, you will see a small box behind the coaxial connectors, where the aerial is connected, containing the high frequency circuitry. This box is made of steel in order to shield the radiation.

To elaborate: To shield off radiation, you need steel. Electromagnetic waves consist of alternating areas of electric fields and magnetic fields. To reflect them, you need a material, that shorts both electric fields and magnetic fields. In terms of shorting electric fields, any metal (being conductors) does an adequate job (aluminium (which so called tinfoil is usually made of, despite its name) is even a very good conductor), but to short magnetic field you need a ferromagnetic metal, like iron, nickel or cobalt. As iron is seldom used nowadays, the best choice is steel (an alloy of iron, carbon and tiny amounts of other components). Just take a look at a video-recorder: Videorecorders may have fancy chassis made of aluminium, but if you look inside, you will see a small box behind the coaxial connectors, there the aerial is connected, containing the high frequency circuitry. This box is made of steel in order to shield the radiation.

-->A: Bad news: [DELETED] has been field testing some CODA equipment, and a bunch of ham radio operators recorded the signal and called the cops.
--> B: Why is that a problem?
--> A: The police have been looking into the "sidewinders" affair -- they might just connect the dots.
--> B: Then discredit those radio people in front of the cops -- convince them we can control their brains with microwaves.
--> A: But that's exactly what we're doing!
--> B: Yeah. So exaggerate until it becomes implausible. Tell them a tinfoil hat could protect them or whatever.
--> A: Tinfoil hat? They'll never buy it.

* ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'': Commander Jim from "Lady Blue" not only wears aluminum foil under all his clothes but also decorates his entire apartment with it, even wrapping it around his desk lamps.

* In ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'', you occasionally encounter humans wearing tinfoil hats... [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight and Crypto can't read their minds because of it.]]

* Karl from ''Webcomic/FreakAngels'' wears one at all times to block his telepathic link to the rest of the group, because they mostly seem to use it for inane bickering, {{Seinfeldian Conversation}}s and complaining about how crap their sex lives are. AMindIsATerribleThingToRead indeed...

* One of the more ludicrous claims made by WW2 propaganda broadcaster [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Haw-Haw Lord Haw Haw]] was that the British government was issuing hats made of very thin metal to protect against shrapnel from the Blitz. No doubt he was taken no more seriously at the time than other practitioners of this trope are now.

* At one point WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'s Fry gains mind reading powers. He quickly makes himself a tin foil hat to block out other people's thoughts and to keep other telepaths from reading his mind.

* Psychonauts features a character named Dogen Boole who is seen regularly wearing a tin foil hat. When asked about his hat he will explain that he wears it so he doesn't accidentally blow anyone's head up with his incredible psychic powers.

* A variation on this trope is used in the film ''Film/ConspiracyTheories''. In it the main character lines walls of his house with tin foil to block out government surveillance tools. [[spoiler: However this, (like many conspiracies in the film) are subverted and proven right. It's revealed that government tools struggle to penetrate his aluminum defenses.]]
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* Psychonauts features a character named Dogen Boole who is seen regularly wearing a tin foil hat. When asked about his hat he will explain that he wears it so he doesn't accidentally blow anyone's head up with his incredible psychic powers.

* A guy wearing a tinfoil hat is the symbol of the WildMassGuessing section of ThisVeryWiki.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Foil" (which provides the trope picture and is a parody of "Royals" by Music/{{Lorde}}) has Al claim to have cracked the code on conspiracy staples such as TheIlluminati, {{Black Helicopter}}s, the MoonLandingHoax, and more, which is why he crafted a handy hat from foil, to protect himself from alien AnalProbing and mind reading. It doesn't do him much good, because TheMenInBlack just tranquilize him and drag him away. The music video ends with the director (played by Creator/PattonOswalt) turning into a [[TheReptilians lizard person]].

As Wiki/TheOtherWiki can tell you, however, aluminium actually has very little shielding effect and covering just the top of the head with it leaves the rest of the body (including the bottom of the head) "unprotected", anyway. (In fact, if improperly made, the tinfoil could amplify any radiation reaching the head.) So whoever is wearing it must be... [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} funny in the head]] to begin with. Or the more sinister interpretation: the whole idea that tinfoil will protect you is [[OtherStockPhrases Just What They Want You To Think]][[TradeSnark ™]].

* One of the more ludicrous claims made by WW2 propaganda broadcaster William Joyce (e.g. Lord Haw Haw) was that people in Britain were constructing hats made of very thin metal to protect against shrapnel from the Blitz. No doubt he was taken no more seriously at the time than other practitioners of this trope are now.