Does the shape of a container make a considerable difference in strength? (more details inside)
I am reading this bottle of Witch Hazel, which had a note on the bottom: "Square bottle uses less plastic than a similarly size round bottle." While I can understand that it is probably more efficient for packaging, I do not quite understand how this is true for the bottle itself. Wouldn't round things be stronger (i.e. squeezing an egg) than a geometric one? Is it significant enough that they can reduce the thickness?
Is this claim true? If so, why?
Posted Mar 7, 2012, 1:20 AM UTC
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Assuming same thickness , height and volume of a cylindrical and square bottle, the square bottle will use more plastic. Did the math and found this article.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2011/06/when-business-reporters-fail-in-basic-math.html edit: found this link - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1224805 Given that a cylindrical bottle can withstand the same pressure as a square bottle while using a smaller thickness, I can only think that they are doing this because of pure packing efficiency.
I agree - a square can support less force, and has a higher surface area/volume ratio, but you can pack more of them into a box to ship them, so you end up using less energy/packing material for shipping.
Yes, I would guess that this was the reason, and it got garbled into the false statement written on the label.