Will any liquid or chemical generate heat when foil is wrapped in a paper towel?

Question

I saw a Chinese man treat back pain on a patient using a paper towel soaked in "water" wrapped around a piece of aluminum foil. According to an IR-sensitive video camera, it showed massive heat being generated (202 deg. F) from the towel.
What other chemical or liquid could he may have used to generate this heat and attribute to chi?

Answer 1

Water boils at 212 deg F. So one possible explanation would seem to be that the fellow was just using really, really hot water.

Temperatures that hot, however, would normally cause burns. So another possible explanation suggests itself - the IR camera was purposely calibrated incorrectly and the actual temperature was nowhere hear 202 F.

Answer 2

Not any liquid, but some. Yeah the aluminum is very reactive. It reacts with strong acids and strong bases. Muractic acid (pool acid) works. Sodium Hydroxide (liquid drain cleaners) works. You have to be careful about chemical burns and thermal burns. These are very dangerous compounds. Both will work to a lesser degree if you dilute the solution.

I’ve even done the trick with a dusting of solid sodium hydroxide. If you powder the sodium hydroxide and sprinkle it on the surface of the foil. Then blow the excess off. You can’t really see the powder there, but it will sit there unreacted for a good 10 to 20 minuets.

Then you bring in the audience. You fold the fold the foil a few times, with the sodium hydroxide inside. Then hand it to unsuspecting audience member. The folding starts the reaction, and it heats up very fast and some times very hot.

It is a fun trick I like to stump science classes with. How did he do that?

Answer 3

A strong acid or strong alkali will generate heat when reacting with aluminium, but will likely eat away at the paper towel and at the patient's skin. So I guess that probably wasn't it.

I believe aluminium reacts with carbon tetrachloride and certain other halogenated organic compounds but I am *not sure* about this or the amount of the heat produced. Carbon tetrachloride is a clear, viscous liquid.