Dots on Soda Cans
At Perdido, Kelly pointed out that there are colored dots on the bottom of soda cans. Different cans have different colors. I checked all the cans and they all had a dot of some color on the bottom. Even cans from the same 12-pack will have different colors. I thought there had to be a reason, but didn't know what it might be. I did a search on Google and had the answer in minutes:
http://www.nordson.com/Businesses/Container/Products/containerinkdot.htm
In a factory there might be several machines printing the cans and each machine uses a different color. This way, if there is a problem they will know which machine to shut down while the other machines continue working.
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Comments (4)
They should print numbers or something on those dots. Kids could then compete to get numbers in a row or the most with a certain number. Adults could bet on who had the highest or lowest number.
Posted by Dad | July 29, 2005 5:51 PM
Maybe thats a lie and the dots are a series of poisons and antidotes.
Posted by Global | September 16, 2005 5:44 PM
Why are soda and beer cans round?
Posted by Tom | December 12, 2006 7:20 PM
the cans are round to reduce the surface area to volume ratio. If they were square it would require more metal for an equal volume, which would be a waste. A spherical container would further improve the SA:V ratio but the cost would be prohibitive (not to mention impractical).
Posted by ChemE | May 10, 2009 6:04 PM