Enjoy this unexpectedly illuminating video about how aluminum cans are formed by the billion in factories the world over. Alluminating! Creator Bill Hammack is a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. His YouTube channel, engineerguy, has many similarly clear, concise, well-produced videos on everyday marvels of nature and engineering: drinking bird toys, droplets, 3D printers.
Bill details the engineering choices underlying the design of a beverage can He explains why it is cylindrical, outlines the manufacturing steps needed to created the can, notes why the can narrows near it lid, show close ups of the double-seam that hold the lid on, and details the complex operation of the tab that opens the can.
