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It’s almost like we just gave up on making glass less breakable when we found plastic
by verelo 1y ago
It’s almost like we just gave up on making glass less breakable when we found plastic
- Henchman21 1y agoI'm haunted by a story I read once, about East German beer glasses that were unbreakable. They developed them because of a serious shortage of raw materials as I recall. I would be happy to buy two dozen and pass them on to my family when I die. But that's the problem, isn't it? The lack of sales. Just ask Pyrex, I guess?
- bnc319 1y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41173177 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41173177
- Henchman21 1y agoAha! I'd forgotten where I'd read it, but it makes sense it was here. Thank you!
- nine_k 1y agoA plastic bottle is not just less breakable. It's also way lighter weight than glass, and harder to dent and pierce than aluminum.
- cma 1y agoAlso needs to be robust to salt and acid, aluminum cans have a plastic lining.
- kyriakos 1y agoPart of the reason that a lot of drinks in aluminium have short shelf life. Acidity eventually makes aluminium leak into the drink.
- saagarjha 1y agoOn a very long timeline, sure
- cma 1y agoSlightly different situation with steel in contact with the contents, but this can happen rapidly: https://kaiserscience.wordpress.com/chemistry/electrochemistry/lasagna-cell/ https://kaiserscience.wordpress.com/chemistry/electrochemist... I'm not sure if there is a scenario something similar could happen with a drink.
- thaumasiotes 1y agoMore importantly, and unlike glass, if you do break plastic, it's not dangerous.