SIMPLIFIED: "Canny Design: Cylindrical Cans Combine the Best of Spheres & Cubes"

Link to article: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/canny-design-cylindrical-cans-combine-best-spheres-cubes/ 

Note: The image above was taken from the original article.

The article linked above talks about the science behind soda cans. Yes, I am talking about soda cans that you drink Sprite or Coca Cola out of. Have you ever wondered why these cans are cylindrical? Why aren’t they just a rectangular prism or in a triangle shape? It turns out, there is a reason why the cans are cylindrical.

Well, let’s start with why they aren’t other shapes. Why aren’t soda cans in the shape of a sphere? A sphere actually would be a good shape when it comes to strength because there are no weaker edges or corners that might cause the liquid to leak out of the can. However, if the soda cans were in the shape of a sphere, they would start rolling around and start spilling the soda everywhere! We don’t want that! Also, making them in the shape of a sphere means packing them and shipping them will be more difficult.

Well then, why not a cube to avoid the soda cans rolling? It would also be easy to ship and pack into boxes! Well, we don’t want the cans to have any corners. Corners are very weak and could possibly make the can have a greater chance of leaking, so companies would need to spend extra money reinforcing the corners, which would increase the weight of the sodas, causing them to have to spend even more money shipping them.

Ultimately, this is why a cylinder is the most practical shape. They aren’t going to roll around on a table, but there are also no weak spots because there are no corners. They are also able to be packed with good efficiency, giving the cylindrical shape another extra boost. Figuring out why soda cans are shaped this way is overall just a great example of optimization in engineering, because engineers will have to find the best design that is durable, cost-effective, strong, and easy to store.