Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World

by Mark Miodownik

The move to serving beer in glasses had another unexpected side effect. According to the UK government, more than five thousand people are attacked with glasses and bottles every year, costing the health service more than £2 billion to surgically repair the injured. Although many alternative plastic materials for serving beer in bars and pubs have been tried, materials which are both transparent and tough, they have never gained acceptance. Drinking beer from a plastic cup is a completely different experience to drinking from a glass. Not only does plastic taste different, but it also has a lower thermal conductivity, a property that makes it feel warmer than glass, reducing the satisfaction of drinking an ice-cold beer. Plastic is also much softer than glass, so plastic beer cups soon become tarnished, scratched, and opaque. This masks the clarity of the beer but it also affects our perception of the cleanliness of the vessel.