The easiest way to imagine how cylinders have different surface area for a given volume, is imagine how closely a shape matches a sphere, it should have a lower surface area.
Imagine a soda can with the width of one water molecule. The cross section of that can would be on the order of four aluminum atoms for that hair thin can. Then imagine a can that’s nearly a cube or a sphere and how all the liquid can be hiding behind other liquid atoms: hence fewer can atoms per liquid volume.
Blood vessels have high surface area. A pint of blood has low.
I always thought that narrower pressure vessels could contain higher pressure, because the curvature is more severe, meaning that for a vessel that needs to retain a similar level of pressure, you could just use less material in the walls of the vessel. Is this not the case with these new cans, and they have the same wall thickness, or is the tradeoff just one that still works out to be in favor of more total aluminum usage?
Force inside a cylinder vessel is just pressure times surface area. If you have the same pressure(soda carbonation) with more surface area, then you are putting less force on the walls. I don’t have any specialty in the materials engineering for canning, but i suppose less force on the walls means you could use thinner materials. However, soda can walls are already pretty thin to start with and from what I can find online, the tops are usually 2.5-3 times thicker. So, I could see it potentially cutting some cost from the tops by making them thinner but i doubt they are manufacturing different tops. It’s probably just marketing.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s not using much more. And if the prices are correct in OP, the markup on the new can is way higher than any extra cost they are incurring from additional raw materials. They probably had some marketing study show that a taller looking can makes consumer’s less angry about a price increase or some other crazy nonsense.
same size top/bottom for both; only difference is that the standard has a wider body bevel, and the sleek can goes nearly straight down. same lid on both cans, as well. not sure what it does for the scaled material cost, but since the lid is by far the most expensive part, it’s probably negligible, compared to the ability to inflate the price on a taller can.
I can’t fully explain the trend, but ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic beverages are a big hit for the industry, and even moreso when presented in the truly/high noon shape. maybe it’s a generational thing? I don’t get it, but I’m also not the target demographic.
bonus fact: the conversion costs of filling sleek cans is pretty steep for most independent brewers, so craft beer will take a couple years to adapt, if ever.
We’ve had those bottles for years now here in Sweden.
The reason for the change to the taller thinner can is because the amount of aluminium used in the top and bottom is less. The top and bottom in an aluminum can is the thickest parts.
The price increase has nothing to do with it though…
Search on YouTube to see how aluminium cans are made you understand why to “lid” and bottom is where the aluminium is thicker (as compared to the “walls”).
They “proved” the trick works by a couple years back, releasing some different flavors in that shape can. Too many of us paid the premium to get the different flavor, even knowing it’s just manufactured scarcity. I still miss the blueberry-acai Diet Coke. Maybe they came away with “weirdly shaped cans sell at bigger profit”
Maybe you want to have a cup of tea instead? Way more cheap and healthy. Or buy some off-brand soda. It is just as much garbage as coca cola but at least it’s cheap.
Got it. You’re totally ignoring my point that water straight from the tap is too unsafe to drink in multiple U.S. municipalities and are just trolling. Have fun with that.
What’s the point of this comment? 99% of counties in the US have safe drinking water and the few that don’t get called out for it like this. This is probably a better situation than most countries - including yours
Diet soda contains sweeteners that are suspected to cause cancer. Granted, you’d have to drink a couple of liters of diet soda a day before you need to be seriously concerned, but tea has one big advantage: It contains as much sugar or sweeteners as you add to it, so there’s that.
Fuck corporations but I don’t believe this for a second. People are just making this shit up now. Some dude scribbles some prices on a piece of paper and this whole website loses its mind.
I was going to say… who the fuck was paying $1.06/can for Coke to begin with? Hell, I saw one of those 32oz Big Gulp cups selling for $4 less than a week ago.
This all just looks made up and hysterical, because Americans cannot handle not having their sugary treats.
Not from the US, Coke was always around 1.05 - 1.20 USD where I lived in the early 2010s. Haven’t been drinking too much of it since then so IDK. But Coke is irrationally cheap in the US apparently. Or it’s just the old before/after taxes shenanigans again?
Not from the US either. 0,5l Coke was 2-2,50$ even in the early 2010s in Norway. The price hasn’t really budged much since that, though. And since our currency used to be really strong in the early 2010s, the price has actually decreased in terms of USD (not in terms of our currency, though)
Soda is such a fucking profitable scam because it’s mostly water and that resource is mostly free. The syrup and carbonation should be pennies compared to what it actually sells for.
Don’t know the situation in america so what you say may be true, but on some countries (developing ones where the power of the state is diminished) water is not free for everybody else, but multinational corporations get almost unlimited use concessions for their bottlers for a laughably low fee if any, drying out the area and sometimes literally leaving towns or regions with no public water left for other uses, forcing the people to have to pay for other sources. I don’t live in a place in that situation yet, but some other regions in my country are going exactly through that. In some cases, those beverages are for the american market.
Here in Germany they can extract millions of liters for a symbolic euro, that is basically free and also far from a third world country. Coke has enough power to get through with this.
if you’re buying coke in america, you should get the 12 packs at grocery stores instead. it’s anywhere between $5.99 to $8.99, which is less than a dollar per can
Yes, it probably won’t be completely flat after half a liter but the fizzyness will be noticeably weaker and will only get worse the more you drink, especially if you don’t get to it soon. Two liters are ok if you’re sharing them with multiple people who will finish it right away or the next day but they suck for one person unless you drink a ridiculous amount of soda.
Not on sale? Where I am, I only see the $7 price when it’s on sale and you have to buy 3. So it’s 2 for $10 and get one free. Without that the normal price is about $10. The best sales that come around during big holidays only are buy 2 get 2 free, which brings it down to $5.
most people are getting cans like that in a pinch tho, if you want a lot of cola, regular 2 liter plastic bottles (or even better, 6-packs of 1.5/2l) are a much better deal
Wow good point! Water IS cheaper than coke! And healthier too I’m sure! It’s a damn shame we’re talking about coke and not water, or else I’m sure someone would give you a prize for your thoughtful and original comment.
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