Full or Empty Beer Bottle, Which One Hurts More?
  • Subjects: Others
  • |
  • Contributor: Encyclopedia
Playlist
  • beer bottle
  • energy
Video Introduction

Beer bottles are often used as weapons in interpersonal violence. Considering a bottle full of beer or an empty bottle with no beer inside, have you ever thought about which one is likely to cause more injuries?

Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in 2009 for this topic. They tested the breaking energy of some beer bottles in a drop-tower to estimate the breaking energy of the bottles, and whether it exceeded the energy required to cause serious injury to a victim. The results showed that the full beer bottles bursted at energies of 30 J, whereas the empty beer bottles shattered at energies of 40 J. Thus, the empty beer bottles withstood about 10 J more than the full beer bottles before breaking, and these breaking energies surpassed the minimum fracture-threshold of the human neurocranium (14.1 J).

The phenomenon of empty beer bottles breaking at higher energies than full ones can be explained by two factors. Firstly, beer is an almost incompressible fluid. Even a slight deformation of the bottle due to the impact of the steel ball can lead to an increase in the pressure inside the bottle and its destruction. Another factor is that beer is carbonated. This gas can cause the bottle to explode under certain pressure conditions. The gas pressure in the bottle gives rise to an additional strain on the bottle, whereas an empty bottle obviously does not possess these qualities, and externally induced strain on the bottle walls will therefore cause the bottle to break. Thus, empty beer bottles are sturdier than full ones, but both full and empty bottles are theoretically capable of fracturing the human neurocranium. Prohibition of these bottles is therefore justified where there is a risk of human conflict involved. [1][2][3][4] 

References
  1. Stephan A. Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael J. Thali and Beat P. Kneubuehl. Are Full or Empty Beer Bottles Sturdier and Does Their Fracture-Threshold Suffice to Break the Human Skull? Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, vol. 16, no. 3, April 2009, pp. 138-42. DOI:10.1016/j.jflm.2008.07.013.
  2. Shepherd JP, Huggett RH, Kidner G. Impact resistance of bar glasses. J Trauma 1993;35:936–8.
  3. Warburton AL, Shepherd JP. Effectiveness of toughened glassware in terms of reducing injury in bars: a randomised controlled trial. Injury Prevent 2000;6:36–40.
  4. Yoganandan N, Pintar FA, Sances A, Walsh PR, Ewing CL, Thomas DJ, Snyder RG. Biomechanics of skull fracture. J Neurotrauma 1995;12:659–68.
Full Transcript
1000/1000

Confirm

Are you sure to Delete?
Cite
If you have any further questions, please contact Encyclopedia Editorial Office.
Full or Empty Beer Bottle, Which One Hurts More?. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/video/video_detail/511 (accessed on 07 December 2024).
Full or Empty Beer Bottle, Which One Hurts More?. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/video/video_detail/511. Accessed December 07, 2024.
"Full or Empty Beer Bottle, Which One Hurts More?" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/video/video_detail/511 (accessed December 07, 2024).
Encyclopedia. (2022, November 29). Full or Empty Beer Bottle, Which One Hurts More?. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/video/video_detail/511
"Full or Empty Beer Bottle, Which One Hurts More?." Encyclopedia. Web. 29 November, 2022.
ScholarVision Creations