A bottle is a narrow-necked container of various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. The opening at the mouth of the bottle is sealed with an internal stopper or external bottle cap, or can be induction sealed. Bottles can be made of glass, metal, plastic, or other durable materials. They can be designed for easy use with hand-held tools or automated bottling equipment. Bottles can also be printed with labeling or built-in labelling (see the article on Bottle Types). Bottle production techniques include reheat and blow molding, co-extrusion blow molding, injection molding, and other methods.
In addition to its main function as a vessel for liquids, a bottle is a distinctive object with aesthetic and historic significance, especially when made of glass. Bottles of all kinds are used in the manufacture and sale of beverages, medicines, chemicals, cosmetics, oils, foodstuffs, and other substances. They can be manufactured by hand or machine, and may be decorated with engravings or other decorative features. They can be shaped or formed into a variety of forms, such as squat-necked or cylindrical bottles, square-sided jars, and squat, oval, and rectangular flasks.
Bottle production techniques vary according to the desired shape and size of the container, but most bottles are made of a strong, transparent, flexible polymer resin with a high density-to-strength ratio that is resistant to solvents. The most common plastic resin for bottles is high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which has the resin identification code 2; it is also the most commonly recycled bottle material. Other common plastics used for bottles are low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride.
The term “bottle episode” has been popularized by online TV discussion communities, and refers to a situation where most or all of the action in an episode takes place within a confined space or setting. This is a particularly inefficient way to film an episodic television show, and many producers have begun to avoid using this technique in favor of more efficient production methods such as standing sets and multiple locations.
Although most of the bottles in use today are made of silica-based glass, there is a broad range of other glass compositions which have a wide range of useful applications, such as optical materials, laboratory glass, cooktop panels, display screens, and amplifiers and multiplexers for optical fiber telecommunication systems. A wide variety of processing techniques allow glass to be made with a range of properties, including specific mechanical and optical properties that cannot be achieved by traditional melting and cooling methods. See the article on Glass Chemistry for more information on different types of glass.