👤 Eric Despite it shrinking down to a more dinky size in recent years, carrying an inhaler is still a real chore. Is it possible to store compressed gas in a more pocket friendly way or has it got to be cylindrical?

👤 Nkrs Gas particles in the middle of the cylinder are surrounded by other particles evenly, so the total force and interaction is essentially cancelled out. On the other hand, particles that are on the edge, that is, next to the wall of the cylinder, only have neighbouring particles on one side, so interactions between these particles result in non-zero force. Thermodynamics tells us that systems in equilibrium gravitate towards the minimum amount of potential energy, which is best satisfied with a rounded shape where distribution of the extra energy on the surface is even. This is how surface tension works: water drops are spheres.