Mostly spherical, except at the wrinkly edge (not applicable in your can. A catenary (or whatever you call its domed equivalent) happens when the forces acting on the membrane have to pass along the membrane, but the external forces on each point of the membrane are all parallel (gravity). This isn't the case with pressure, where the forces acting on each point in the membrane are all normal to the membrane (air pressure).
So the dome of the Pantheon in Rome (if made of equal masses everywhere and built the right way) would be whatever you call a catenoid dome upside down, dominated by its own weight, but the classic science fiction domes on the Moon and Mars are rightly spherical, dominated by internal pressure.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-12-21 08:49 am (UTC)So the dome of the Pantheon in Rome (if made of equal masses everywhere and built the right way) would be whatever you call a catenoid dome upside down, dominated by its own weight, but the classic science fiction domes on the Moon and Mars are rightly spherical, dominated by internal pressure.