When you open a beer can, you get a dull crack. When you open a soda can, you get a sharper, louder crack.
I’m guessing it has to do with the carbonation of the beverage. Am I on the right track?
WAG …
When you open a can of soda, the sharper, louder crack is caused by the sugar, or sugar substitute. Sharp and sweet.
Conversely, opening a can of beer results in a dull crack to correspond with the resulting hangover, and head hitting the table, floor, whatever.
In reality, perhaps it is a combination of the pressure and can materials. I often find that beer can aluminum is thinner than soda can aluminum.
Damn! You’re my doppleganger.
My first post on the SDMB asked about something related to this. I had noticed, while crushing beer cans and pop cans, that the pop cans seemed sturdier to me. Never got a satisfactory answer.
Some cans are made of steel and some of aluminium. Could this be the reason?
I haven’t seen a steel beer can outside of an exhibit in…well, a long time! I don’t think anybody uses them for beer anymore…anywhere.
I’ve seen steel soda cans here in the UK. I’ll go check tomorrow at my local ASDA 
I found some pics: Aluminum cans have this printed on their side: http://perso.club-internet.fr/rene.balderacchi/illustrations/Alu.jpg
Steel cans have this: http://perso.club-internet.fr/rene.balderacchi/illustrations/Acier%20recyclable.gif
Nope. All cans were aluminum.
I jokingly suggested that beer cans were made out of thinner metal so that macho guys could crush them easier.
I don’t think pop cans crush nearly so easy. Especially on your forehead(ala John Belushi).
Cool. I thought everybody had switched to aluminum decades ago.
The cans I’ve seen are identical.
It’s the carbonation. Soft drink / soda / pop is significantly more heavily carbonated than beer. You can see this in the glass, and you can feel it when you try to drink it quickly. You also get the same effect when you open a bottle. The glass beer bottles with their metal caps are “sturdier” but the plastic soft drink bottles with plastic caps give you a much louder hiss when opened.
If you try it with some of the lemon soda squash which is marketed as a macho drink ( the ads have lots of extreme sports), and is lightly carbonated so you can “slam it down fast” when you’ve finished your triathlon, you’ll find it sounds just like a beer can.
WAG: (some?) beer cans and soda cans have linings and maybe due to the differences of acids and such they could have different linings?
I just went through my trash and cut open a beer can, a soda can and a can that juice came in.
They all appear to be identical, lacking a micrometer I’d say you people are nuts.
Either that, or I am for cuttng up my garbage.
This may or may not be an obvious WAG. Soda Cans are usually 12 oz. I’ve seen 8 ounce cans of Pepsi products recently, and have seen shorter. Beer Cans on the other hand, tend to be longer, or at least in a different shape.
Now, I don;t know the exact words or phenomena on it, but, wouldnt the shape affect the noise, much like the size of the bars on a xylophone, or the size of a pipe in an organ? I mean, something along air going in, or air going out versus the size of said container, couldn’t you get different noises?
If this is true, lets hope STOMP can perfect it. 