The engineering behind Pringles chips

‘Once you pop the fun don’t stop’, is the slogan of the American chips brand Pringles. But if you are someone who enjoys math, the fun part for you might just be the amount of science that has gone into making the iconic design..

The shape you see when you open a can of Pringles is called a hyperbolic paraboloid.

This shape gets it’s name from the fact that when a vertical cross section is taken it is a parabola and upon taking a horizontal cross section it gives you a hyperbola.

The shape often used in architecture provides structural integrity due to the shape rather than it’s mass. It’s curvature also helps reducing the tendency to crack under compression. And this property is exactly the reason the snack company decided to use it. The chips at the bottom should not crumble easily then sacked in it’s iconic cans.

In recent years P&G the company who owns Pringles also had to used a super computer and aerodynamics to tweak and optimize their design because they did not want the chips flying off the production line while being transported as they produce them very quickly.

You would think who much work can and science can go into making a simple potato chip? Well, Pringles takes it to a different level and makes you wonder is this really necessary or just something companies do to get that X factor while marketing?