Skip to content

Comment on What are these bumps on the top of a pull-tab can?parent

Comments

Extracting aluminium from bauxite is notoriously energy-intensive. During the nineteenth century, European aristocrats used aluminium tableware because it was more expensive than silverware. (They later switched back to silver when the novelty wore off and they realised aluminium was too light to feel right in the hand.)

And you get all of that energy back when you powder that aluminium, mix it with rust, and manage (with difficulty) to ignite it.

No you don't. There are losses from inefficiency at every step.

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.