It’s almost like we just gave up on making glass less breakable when we found pl...

nine_k · 2025-06-07T02:17:12 1749262632

A plastic bottle is not just less breakable. It's also way lighter weight than glass, and harder to dent and pierce than aluminum.

cma · 2025-06-07T02:25:46 1749263146

Also needs to be robust to salt and acid, aluminum cans have a plastic lining.

kyriakos · 2025-06-07T08:59:22 1749286762

Part of the reason that a lot of drinks in aluminium have short shelf life. Acidity eventually makes aluminium leak into the drink.

saagarjha · 2025-06-07T09:31:57 1749288717

On a very long timeline, sure

cma · 2025-06-08T06:11:17 1749363077

Slightly different situation with steel in contact with the contents, but this can happen rapidly: https://kaiserscience.wordpress.com/chemistry/electrochemist...

I'm not sure if there is a scenario something similar could happen with a drink.

thaumasiotes · 2025-06-07T07:38:56 1749281936

More importantly, and unlike glass, if you do break plastic, it's not dangerous.

Henchman21 · 2025-06-07T02:06:02 1749261962

I'm haunted by a story I read once, about East German beer glasses that were unbreakable. They developed them because of a serious shortage of raw materials as I recall. I would be happy to buy two dozen and pass them on to my family when I die. But that's the problem, isn't it? The lack of sales. Just ask Pyrex, I guess?

bnc319 · 2025-06-07T02:17:36 1749262656

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41173177

Henchman21 · 2025-06-07T14:38:44 1749307124

Aha! I'd forgotten where I'd read it, but it makes sense it was here. Thank you!