Why are kettles so loud when they start up and become quieter as the water starts boiling?
In: Engineering
As the water is boiling, forming little bubbles of steam and as they rise up in the colder water they shrink and collapse and then smash into one another and make lots of noise. So it gets a lot quieter once bubbles get all the way up to the surface and they stop cavitating.
“This hot water around the heating element forms tiny little bubbles which then rise up through the kettle, but as these bubbles rise, they rise into an area of colder water. So the bubbles cool down and condense and kind of implode, and the bubbles sort of slaps against itself making a really loud noise.
But as the kettle heats up throughout so all the water inside the kettle is one temperature. As these bubbles form and rise through the water they don’t reach an area of colder water, so they actually make it all the way to the surface and then they pop on the surface. But this popping sound on the surface is a lot more gentle and quiet than the sound of the bubbles kind of imploding on themselves within the kettle”
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/why-does-kettle-get-louder-water-heats-then-quieter-it-reaches-boiling-point#:~:text=This%20hot%20water%20around%20the,making%20a%20really%20loud%20noise.
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