Weight of 12 fl oz Beer Bottle | Physics Project Help

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    Beer Weight
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around estimating the weight of a standard 12 fl oz beer bottle for a physics project. Participants explore various methods to approximate the weight without direct measurement tools.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Conceptual clarification, Debate/contested, Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that beer bottles vary in weight, recommending generalization or approximation methods.
  • One participant humorously proposes drinking a couple of cases of a specific beer to weigh the bottles afterward.
  • Another participant notes that the weight of the beer bottle includes the weight of the glass in addition to the liquid.
  • A method is proposed involving weighing a full and empty bottle using a meter stick to find the balance point and calculate the mass ratio.
  • Some participants mention that a typical 12 oz glass bottle weighs between 180g and 200g, while others suggest it could be between 325g and 350g depending on the type of beer.
  • One participant suggests conducting a sampling of various beer types to obtain a representative average mass of beer bottles.
  • Humorous exchanges about the effects of beer consumption on weight and personal anecdotes about drinking habits are present throughout the discussion.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the exact weight of a beer bottle, and multiple competing views and methods for estimating the weight remain throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty regarding the variability in beer bottle weights and the assumptions made in their proposed methods. Some methods depend on specific brands or types of beer, which may not be universally applicable.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to students or individuals involved in physics projects, particularly those exploring measurement techniques and estimation methods in practical scenarios.

sphoenixee
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Random question: How much does a regular beer bottle (12 fl oz) weigh?

I'm doing a physics project involving the weight of beer bottles, and I don't have a scale, balance, etc. :rolleyes:
 
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Beer bottles are not uniform in weight, so you may have to generalize. The best bet is to buy a couple of cases of Beck's Dark, drink them all, load the bottles onto a bathroom scale and ask someone to divide that weight by 24, because you probably won't be able to do so.
 
It weighs 12 fl. oz... plus the glass.
 
Danger said:
It weighs 12 fl. oz... plus the glass.
Dammit, Danger! How can I steal your badge when you're stalking me like this?

P.S. You notice that I didn't recommend that he research the problem using Labatt's or Molsen - horse-p*ss only slightly less revolting than US domestic bottled dishwater.
 
turbo-1 said:
The best bet is to buy a couple of cases of Beck's Dark, drink them all...

Hero...! :smile:
 
turbo-1 said:
How can I steal your badge when you're stalking me like this?
Don't look at me like that; I thought that your post was funnier. Anyhow, I'm not in the running this year, so you'll be stealing someone else's. :-p

And I drink Keith's. :-p :-p
 
Danger said:
And I drink Keith's.


Uhh, you drink Keith's what?
 
And another one rears up out of the bog... :rolleyes:

Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale.
 
sphoenixee said:
Random question: How much does a regular beer bottle (12 fl oz) weigh?

I'm doing a physics project involving the weight of beer bottles, and I don't have a scale, balance, etc. :rolleyes:

If you don't have to be super accurate just take a bottle down to a grocery store produce department and weigh it. You could even ask a pharmacist to weigh it.

If you live on the wrong side of town, go to a stash house and ask a friendly drug dealer to weigh it.:cool:
 
  • #10
If you'll be drinking them, I recommend Yeungling Lager. If you won't be drinking them (ie, you'll just be pouring them out before weighing them), any of the suggestions above will do fine.
 
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  • #11
Spoken like a true Pennsylvanian, eh!
 
  • #12
sphoenixee said:
Random question: How much does a regular beer bottle (12 fl oz) weigh?

I'm doing a physics project involving the weight of beer bottles, and I don't have a scale, balance, etc. :rolleyes:
Here's how you find out. Get two bottles of (budweiser/miller/coors) light beer (to approximate the density of the beer to that of water). Carefully empty one of the bottles into your sink (making sure you don't accidentally spill any drops into your mouth). Suspend the two bottles (one empty, one full) from the ends of a meter stick. find the balance point and from that, the ratio of the two masses. Plug in the mass of 12 oz of water, and you have the mass of the bottle.

PS: A typical 12oz glass bottle weighs between 180g and 200g.
 
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  • #13
The only proper approach, of course, would be to weigh yourself holding the full bottle, then drink the beer and weigh yourself holding the empty bottle.
Hang on a sec... there's something wrong with that.
 
  • #14
Danger said:
The only proper approach, of course, would be to weigh yourself holding the full bottle, then drink the beer and weigh yourself holding the empty bottle.
Hang on a sec... there's something wrong with that.

Yep, forgot to tell him to pee first. :approve:

Or...he could find a mentor who is over 21, has a 12 oz bottle of beer in the fridge, and a kitchen scale willing to weigh it.

I'm tempted to hold out for the chocolate bribe, but since my kitchen scale is only accurate to within 25 g, I guess I should just suggest a donation after the fact.

It was between 325 and 350 g. (That would be Edmund Fitzgerald Porter from Great Lakes Brewing Co.; I highly recommend it. :approve:)
 
  • #15
Moonbear said:
Yep, forgot to tell him to pee first.

That would be counter-productive; it would give a negative value. Beer is the only substance on the planet that is known to violate the laws of thermodynamics... 5 go in, 6 come out.
 
  • #16
Danger said:
That would be counter-productive; it would give a negative value. Beer is the only substance on the planet that is known to violate the laws of thermodynamics... 5 go in, 6 come out.
... and 4 stay permanently attached to your gut!
 
  • #17
my approach to get a truly representaive average mass of a beer bottle would be to conduct a sampling of the population of all possialbe beer bottles my sample would try to include something like :

2 us domestic beers
2 us micro brews
2 european brews
2 asian brews

mass all bottles full... drink... then mass all bottles empty and divide by eight... this should give a good estimate of the mean beer bottle mass... fun experiment though
 
  • #18
josh_einsle said:
my approach to get a truly representaive average mass of a beer bottle would be to conduct a sampling of the population of all possialbe beer bottles my sample would try to include something like :

2 us domestic beers
2 us micro brews
2 european brews
2 asian brews

mass all bottles full... drink... then mass all bottles empty and divide by eight... this should give a good estimate of the mean beer bottle mass... fun experiment though

You forgot to mention you have to do this once in the US or Europe and once in Australia. That way you can determine whether the room spins in the same direction in both hemispheres, as well as gather more samples.
 
  • #19
russ_watters said:
... and 4 stay permanently attached to your gut!

Yeah, I forgot about that part. Wasn't a problem until I hit 40 or so, then 'poof'... a rack full of obsolete belts.
 
  • #20
Danger said:
Yeah, I forgot about that part. Wasn't a problem until I hit 40 or so, then 'poof'... a rack full of obsolete belts.
Well, then you need to drink fewer bottles of beer per day. If you come to Maine, we'll go to the local micro-brewery and pick up four growlers of great Oak Pond Brewery ales. http://oakpondbrewery.com/
The growlers are 1/2 gallon each, but with this method we can probably get you cut back to only two bottles a day.
 
  • #21
Well, I do probably at least 6 beers a day, sometimes up to 16 or so... so I guess that sounds about right. The only problem would be keeping a bottle cold long enough to drink it. :frown:
 

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