Talk:Beverage can

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What are the dimensions of an aluminum can?

how much aluminum is need to make an aluminum can?

As little as possible. You can simply weight it. The can's material is nearly 100% aluminum except for some trace elements to improve its physical properties and the ink. Wasted material during production is almost 0. Years ago there was a Scientific American article on this issue. Go to your library and check it out. I'd like to but don't wait for me to write. -- Toytoy 23:55, Sep 22, 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Spelling of article

The Wiki article on the element from which the cans are made is spelled aluminium. I therefore tried to change the article 'aluminum can' to 'aluminium can' for consistency with this. Please feel free to revert if you don't like. Ian Cairns 22:27, 26 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I am aware that IUPAC's spelling for the element is "aluminium"; nevertheless, we should retain the original spelling of the word in the article. [[User:Poccil|Peter O. (Talk)]] 22:29, Sep 26, 2004 (UTC)
Could you please explain why we should retain the original spelling? Ian Cairns 22:34, 26 Sep 2004 (UTC)
In North America, we usually call steel food cans "tin cans," even though there's no tin in them (I think in other parts of the world they may just be called "tins"... not sure if the "tin" on "tin can" stuck because "tin" is a generic term for food containers, or because they really used to be made of Sn). So the name/phrase/pronounciation "aluminum can" may be just as legitimate as "tin can," even if it isn't absolutely right. I think it is Wikipedia's policy to use aluminium when referring to the element (a legitimate case for consistency), but we're not really worried about elemental aluminium here, we're talking about a secondary product. What if they were popularly called "Aluminy Cans"? Would we still make the fuss? Plus, if we go around changing every little regional quirk, you'll have Americans and British fighting revert wars over the use of "biscuit" before long.
Then again, I could just be rationalizing :/ Iroll 04:04, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
I'm going to move it to bring it in line - makes much more sense. violet/riga (t) 18:57, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Could someone please tell me the major materials used in making an aluminum beverage can? Someone hinted to me that there were three and i can only come up with the obvious two; aluminum and ink.

I believe plastic is used too - a plastic coating on the inside to protect the aluminium from the stuff that aluminium can't stand, unlike (presumably) stomach walls :P a chemistry teacher "proved" it when (I think) he left the inside of a can empty but soaked the outside in conc. HCl (I might be wrong though, can't remember the exact experiment) Maycontainpeanuts 02:18, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Article title (again)

It seems to me that the move of this article to "aluminium can" was out of order. Naming policy says that articles should respect the convention used by the original author of the article, which in this case was the American spelling. Policy says nothing about renaming articles to make them consistent with the titles of other articles. Nohat 06:44, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

I removed the links to the dialects because they didn't seem relevant to the topic, nor entirely accurate. At one point it was change from North American English to United States English (later to AmE) under the supposed claim that Canadians spell it "aluminium". A Google search of .ca sites, however, gives "aluminum" a 5 to 1 advantage over "aluminium", strongly indicating that Canadians use the American spelling, not the British spelling. In any case, whoever knows the word will recognize the spelling they are familiar with, and don't need to be directed to irrelevant articles on English dialects that don't mention the aluminium/aluminum spelling distinction. Nohat 04:15, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Ahl_yhew_min_eum! When you shout it, it's much more impressive than aluminum, Aluminium gets my vote. ggb667

Whatever. Aluminum is the dominant usage in English-speaking North America, and it's going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. Anyway, Nohat has correctly summarized and applied Wikipedia policy above. --Coolcaesar 01:29, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
Given that the category this article in is spelt "aluminium", it makes sense to use that spelling. (Anon)
How about we spell it Alumin[i]um throughout the article? Arcturus 21:48, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
You can see that now is not a problem. I merged Beverage and Aluminum can into Beverage can. I hope that doesn't make any problem.

[edit] Stay-On-Tabs

I am skeptical of two claims in the following text: "The stay-on-tab has had a huge impact on the environment. If you took all the tabs that have stayed on from 1970 to today - tabs that would be on the ground - they would amount to a couple of trillions."

First, what is the source for "a couple of trillions"? This ought to be substantiated with a citation for the number of cans manufactured since 1970. If nothing else, such a cited source may help guide updates to this number as the years go by: "1970 to today" is a non-constant span of time.

Second, why does staying on matter from an environmental standpoint? You're still consuming metal and energy resources to manufacture the cans, and that metal still ends up in trash heaps whether the tab and can are attached or not. Is there a recycling angle here? Are stay-on tabs more likely to be recycled with the accompanying can? I suppose that's possible, but it's certainly not manifestly true, and therefore should also be substantiated.

Ben Liblit 05:52, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

Well you can step on the tabs. And that hurts. Ggb667 18:18, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

I used to work at a can plant running two lines that made 1.6 million cans a day, five days a week. Most large market can plants run 4-10 lines 7 days a week. (Newer plants at much faster speeds.) There are 50 + can plants in the US give or take.(May actually be hundreds, You would have to look up the number of plants of each major manufacturer plus the beer companies that run their own plants.) So some simple math gives you trillions of cans produced in one year.(Conservitively.) So yes that statement is in line if not not even a litte small.--Sean697 05:15, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] actually

iron city and alcoa created the first aluminum can and stay on tab —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 151.201.118.47 (talk • contribs) May 4, 2006.

[edit] Oiled cans used for soda

This was removed:

Beer cans allegedly vary in quality from batch to batch, and the oil coating the can may adversely change the taste of beer to a greater extent than for soft drinks. Such substandard cans are then apparently used for soft drinks whose consumers allegedly "won't know the difference".

I think it belongs in here unless someone can prove differently. The coors beer engineer I spoke to at Georgia Tech had no reason to lie. Sorry I don't remember his name, but this was related to us in class (Chemical Engieering) as an interesting anecdote. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ggb667 (talk • contribs) May 11, 2006.

All cans go through a washer after forming before printing. There is no oil on them at all. The coatings, while changing greatly over the years, are more like a varnish and desinged to have no taste. Some oil may get on the outside of the can from the necking process but it is not likely unless the machine is leaking oil and not operating correctly. The inside of a finishe can is usally spotless before filling with no oil whatsoever. Older can coatings are purported to have had a flavor that was discernable but newer coatings are pretty much flavorless. Now coating defects do happen periodically and they catch most of them before shipping but if you do get a can you may get an aluminum taste from the beverage disolving the metal. If it hasnt ate a hole in the can already. They actually take test cans from every few thousand and pour a conductive solution in the can and test conductivty and from outside of can to the inside. Should be none or very little. If it conducts electricity the coating is defective and that whole batch of cans would have to be sorted and possibly scrapped.--Sean697 05:22, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Banned in Germany?

I heard from a german friend that aluminum cans are now BANNED in germany! can i get a second (as i have no source)? THX Schafer (71.107.69.226)

They're not banned. Retailer have to take them back from customers no matter where they bought them from. This rule became effective on the 2006-05-01, because of this a lot of retailers have stopped stocking and selling drinks in cans. The PET bottle has replaced the aluminium/steel can as a drink holder. Demerzel 14:43, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Current characteristics

Why is there a Citation Needed at the end of that section's first paragraph. Surely people from these contries (Australia and South Africa) can verify this and if there is a change make the necessary change. Demerzel 14:34, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Red Bull Cans

Shouldn't we mention the different size for energy drink cans, like Red Bull or Adrenalin Rush? I just don't quite know how to put it into words... (Me-pawel 05:03, 4 November 2006 (UTC))

The energy drink cans exist as they are purely for cosmetic reasons. The article is better for being generic. Htra0497 17:42, 23 November 2006 (AEST)

[edit] Material Composition

Perhaps someone can answer this, but in Europe I've noticed the cans are magnetic (hence not made of aluminum). An engineering friend of mine says the cans are steel, with a tin inner lining, and aluminum is only used for capping the ends. Is this a European thing, or are the cans only coated with aluminum (like US coins that are primarily made of zinc)? - IstvanWolf 07:52, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

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