Why does heating water in a kettle produce sound?

Abstract

The question of whether it is possible to design a kettle in which water could be brought to a boil silently is addressed. In this context, acoustic phenomena associated with the heating of water in various vessels are investigated. It is shown that much of the sound emitted in the boiling process can be attributed to coupling between vapor bubble generation and collapse with the natural acoustic modes of the heating vessel utilized. Differences between the thermoacoustic characteristics of deionized and tap water heating are evaluated.

Scale invariance as a symmetry in physical and biological systems: listening to photons, bubbles and heartbeats

“…Complex power spectra have been found, with an array of dominant peaks in the range 200 < f < 5000 Hz, that can be appreciated best with the spectrum in a linear scale [25]. The frequency of the dominant peaks tends to decrease as the water is heated.…”

“…The acoustics of the boiling process has been studied, and the change of the sound has been interpreted with the implosion of vapor bubbles of different sizes in the water column [25,26]. Complex power spectra have been found, with an array of dominant peaks in the range 200 < f < 5000 Hz, that can be appreciated best with the spectrum in a linear scale [25].…”

“…The sound emitted in the process of heating water to a boil is a good and reliable indicator of the water temperature: probably everybody who is heating water in a kettle to make a cup of coffee or a cup of tea relies on the sound to identify when the water has reached full boil. Actually, the sound of boiling water is quite pleasing, and often the expression "the singing of a kettle" is used to describe this sound [25].…”

An audible demonstration of the speed of sound in bubbly liquids

“…These bubble clouds are responsible for part of the ambient noise in the ocean below about 1000 Hz. 16 The physics of bubble acoustics has been the subject of previous "Apparatus and Demonstration Notes" within this journal, [17][18][19] but the apparatus described here complements and expands upon the previous work. The apparatus consists of a transparent PVC pipe about 0.5 m in length.…”

A Review of Boiling Heat Transfer Processes at High Heat Flux

“…Several investigations have been performed to show that information on the boiling mode can be ascertained from boiling noise (Refs. [246][247][248][249][250]. Hydrophones (i.e., transducers) with piezoceramic sensing elements have typically been used to measure the acoustic emissions from boiling.…”