In article , Leo
Lichtman says...

Your force calculation gets the correct
number, but the force will not be at the *center* of the base--it will be
uniformly distributed over the entire area.

Quite right, of course. I quite the entire force number often
because it impresses folks, and makes them respect bell jars
a bit more. The idea that it's a glass jar with two tons of
force involved somewhere in there makes it easier to convince
them that it has to be covered in wire mesh.

The only point I was trying to make in my facetious posting was that the
required thickness of the base cannot be specified unless the diameter is
known.

Ah, got it!

As a practical matter, a 1/2 gallon bell jar is probably about 6" in
diameter, so it will have a force on it of about 400 lb. I would make the
base out of whatever is available in the range of 1/4" to 3/4", just based
on two things: 1.) You don't want it to "oilcan". 2.) You don't want it
to be too heavy to handle easily.

Sounds good to me.

Jim


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