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Posts:
1
From:
USA
Registered:
2/9/08
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(1 of 3)
Feb 9, 2008 9:07 AM
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Did anyone see the Heavy metals modern marvels? In one of the factoids before the comercials it mentions that "More steel in the United States is used to make bottle caps than to manufacture automobile bodies." Does anyone else find this to be a bit far fetched? I dont know where they got the information, but I would like to check up on it.
Hey you never know it could be true.
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Posts:
5
From:
Monteagle , Tennessee
Registered:
3/12/08
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(2 of 3)
Mar 13, 2008 7:22 PM
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Well, it actually makes sense NOW, because of the use of fiberglass and aluminum for car bodies. I missed the episode , but I hope to catch it the next time it's on. I've been wondering how many copper pennies it takes to weigh a pound , wonder how many bottle caps?one thing about cars , they don't make them like they use to .
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Posts:
1
From:
St Louis, Mo
Registered:
9/22/09
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(3 of 3)
Sep 22, 2009 8:44 AM
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I too was taken aback by this fact. I really don't think it is anywhere close to being accurate.
As best as I can calculate, a bottle cap weighs about 1/ 150 of a pound, or 150 bottle caps to the pound. On a per capita basis, it takes a tremendous amount of bottle caps consumed to amount to any weight at all. Even if you throw in caps from class jars (picke jars, spaghett sauce, etc) that still takes a lot of caps to make much weight.
I think the average car weighs in about 3200 pounds. A lot of that is plastic, aluminum and various kinds of wiring, but there is still a lot of steel in the car. If even 1/4 of the weight is steel, that is 800 pounds. If there are 15 million cars sold in the US, that is 12 billion pounds of steel or 6 million tons. On a per capita basis, that is 400 pounds per person in the country or 60,000 bottle caps. That is a whole lot of bottle caps!
A pretty spectacular stat, but I think it is total fantasy.
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