Let Me Sit Down To Get My Air

[Harry]

Hello,

Trying to pack to go to my new house:

Sorry to inturde, however ihavebeen all over the Internet with this question, and youare a last resort so please answer:

When wrapping an object in bubble wrap, should the bubbles go against the object, or should the straight, flat side go against the object . . . or: what is the object of bubble wrap?

Truly

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from RELIGIOUS CONVICTION." ~ Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) ~

[CWatters]

I don't believe it makes any difference.

Generally when designing packaging you need to decide if the object being packed can tollerate any static loads. If it can (ex a book or similar solid object) then you can just fill the box with chips or loose bubbles. The bubbles provide a space around the object that can be punctured without the object being damaged. Bubbles do not protect against static loads (eg someone standing on the box) but they do ok with shock loads (eg being dropped).

If the object can't carry static loads (ex glass vase) you need to design the box to transfer any loads around the object. Just filling the box with chips, loose bubbles or wrap is the last thing you want to do as they can transfer external loads to the item being protected (crush damage). In such cases the best approach is to support/suspend the object in the middle of an empty rigid box. In these cases it might be necessary to "double" or "triple pack" an object. In that case you can choose the same or opositestrategy for each layer. One layer provides protection from shock loads and the other from static/crush loads.