Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2024 June 14

= June 14 =

Australian fizzy cans
What is the average mass of an (empty) Australian fizzy can of the typical size? It's easy to find pages talking about the amount of liquid a typical can holds (375 ml), but I can't find anything about the mass of the aluminium. Drink can gives a US figure, but that's not useful because cans here are a different size, and also it's a really rough estimate, being derived from a US-EPA source that says "assume 34 cans per pound". Nyttend (talk) 02:49, 14 June 2024 (UTC)


 * 14.9 grams, according to the Australian Aluminium Council. Figure is from 2001 and the trend seems to be downward so perhaps they're lighter today.  Card Zero  (talk) 04:41, 14 June 2024 (UTC)


 * An empty 330 ml beer can in New Zealand is 14-15 g. I expect an Australian can would be the same.-Gadfium (talk) 05:13, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Card Zero, thank you! Information added to the drink can article.  If I had a large quantity, I suppose I could just weigh them and divide by the number, but I don't have a good scale, and I don't have room to hold a huge number for a representative sample anyway.  Plus, I'd rather take them (and little cans, and plastic bottles, etc.) to redeem the deposit without amassing a huge quantity.  Nyttend (talk) 05:21, 14 June 2024 (UTC)


 * About how much would a full can of Foster's weigh? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 05:23, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Don't ask an Australian that question. They never drink Fosters. HiLo48 (talk) 06:09, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * TV ads in America used to say that Foster's is Australian for "beer". Evidently that is not altogether true? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 06:51, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Not in the last 40 years. The same goes for throwing another shrimp on the barbie. We call them prawns, not shrimps. HiLo48 (talk) 23:31, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Some Foster's ads, for your possible amusement. The comments are telling. Also, Americans may not know shrimps from prawns, but we know all about barbie. There was a major movie about it last year. :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:09, 15 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Google says it's the typical size of 375ml, so add in the can and we're at about 390ml, just like Coca-Cola or Carlton Draught or Victoria Bitter. I know much more about alcohol containers than I did before Victoria introduced container deposit last year...never had an idea that Coke-diluted whiskey existed (what's the point of diluting a distilled beverage?), let alone was sold in cans with US-specific branding like Bourbon County, or was sold in 200ml cans.  But I don't remember seeing Foster's cans in any of the neighbourhoods where I go on foot and collect discarded containers.  Nyttend (talk) 05:37, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Regarding your question, . (i) Many people find the taste/mouthfeel of some undiluted spirits over-strong. (ii) Sometimes one wants to drink a larger volume and a weaker ABV than the undiluted spirit; with less intensely flavoured spirits, such as vodka, this can effectively produce 'alcolohic dilutant' (I used to be fond of screwdrivers, for example). (iii) The combination of the spirit and dilutant can result in quite different new and desirable tastes: this is partly chemical – for example, a single drop of water added to a glass of single-malt whisky can have a very noticable effect, I'm told. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 151.227.226.178 (talk) 17:47, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you! As a non-drinker, this is all strange to me.  In particular, I assumed that the point of drinking distilled beverages was experiencing the alcohol intensely.  Also wouldn't have guessed that the diluted beverage would taste anything other than a proportionate mix of the flavours, e.g. in the water-in-single-malt-whiskey example, I figured it would merely weaken the taste, like putting water into milk or fruit juice.  Nyttend (talk) 19:49, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
 * The reason I ask is that in Monty Python at the Hollywood Bowl, they were throwing what appeared to be full Foster's cans into the crowd. It occurred to me that if they were actually full, that could be dangerous. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 05:51, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Who is "Professor Cleveland Abbe" (Meteorology)
I might as well ask here as someone may be bored and can help solve a mystery. I recently added information published by "Professor Cleveland Abbe" to History of tornado research (specifically this article). He was the editor of Volume 25, Issue 6 of Monthly Weather Review, published in June 1897. However, after reading the "General Characteristics" (basically the introduction) to the academic paper, it doesn't actually say where Mr. Abbe is a professor, just that his title is "professor". At the time, Monthly Weather Review was run by the U.S. federal government (United States Weather Bureau), so he had to be some meteorological scientist.

It's a long shot, but if someone wants to try to check around for a scientist/professor named "Cleveland Abbe" in the late 1800s/early 1900s, maybe the university he is a professor of could be located. I honestly, don't expect an answer to this, but asking others never hurts. The Weather Event Writer (Talk Page) 05:10, 14 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Cleveland Abbe has an article. :D Card Zero  (talk) 05:16, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Ultimate facepalm moment. LOL. Thank you ! The Weather Event Writer (Talk Page) 05:16, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Scientists disappointed by a shared Nobel prize
Are there cases known when a scientist longed for the Nobel prize so much that he was disappointed by even a Nobel prize he had to share? --KnightMove (talk) 07:39, 14 June 2024 (UTC)


 * George Santos, but he got over it by the time he got his fourth one. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:05, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Art for blind people
I have just read the Fantastic Four comic and, before the usual superhero stuff gets started (an invasion of vampires, go figure), there's a brief slice of life intro in a museum. Alicia Masters, one of the characters, is blind, and the museum has reproductions of famous fine arts that can be touched, so that blind people can enjoy them as if reading braille (see here). Is that really a thing, or was the author making it up like the rest of the fantasy and sci-fi stuff? Cambalachero (talk) 13:30, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Here's a couple of articles . Sean.hoyland (talk) 15:30, 14 June 2024 (UTC)
 * A tactile reproduction of Roy Lichtenstein's Whaam! for the Tate Modern gallery in London, which offers "touch tours" for the visually impaired. Alansplodge (talk) 12:35, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

Sculptures are sometimes exhibited in public places where they can be touched by blind people. The example shown stands in an Oslo park and its bronze surface is kept polished by visitors who often stroke it (either for art appreciation or just "good luck"). Philvoids (talk) 16:21, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
 * No wonder the boy's angry. Clarityfiend (talk) 08:49, 18 June 2024 (UTC)