Boiling water noisiest before boiling

[lakedude]

It is cold and dry so we were boiling a big pot of water on the stove. The noise it made reminded me of my childhood when we would use the stove to boil water for tea or coffee (before microwaves and drip coffee makers). The sound the pot made just before boiling was quite loud and then as the water actually boiled the sound became much quieter. It occurred to me that this happened pretty much every time water was boiled as I (more or less) remembered similar sounds from my childhood.

Without looking it up I was able to ascertain the reason for the noise and I was quite proud of myself.

I'll post the answer in a bit in case y'all want to guess what causes the noise.

 

[Thebobo]

Opening of a rift to another dimension?

 

[snoopy7548]

Lots of tiny bubbles popping on the inner surface of the pot make more noise than big bubbles on the surface of the water?

 

[Rudy Toody]

The noise will go away if you remove the whistle from your tea-kettle.

 

[Ken g6]

Lots of tiny bubbles popping on the inner surface of the pot make more noise than big bubbles on the surface of the water?

I'd say that's close. Lots of tiny bubbles imploding near the inner surface of the pot as they re-condense make more noise than big bubbles floating to the surface of the water and not imploding.

 

[lakedude]

Yes the bubbles imploding is the noisy part.

I told my wife how it was similar to another phenomenon. I told her that the reason for the noise was the bubbles that never made it to the surface. Once the bubbles reach the surface the noise is greatly reduced.

After looking it up I discovered that the cause of the noise was in fact exactly the same as the other phenomenon, not just similar. The only reason I could figure this out is because I'm familiar with the other aspect of this phenomenon from boating, namely prop cavitation. The damage that can be done to a propeller from collapsing bubbles is amazing.

Evidently all those little bubbles collapsing in a pot can make quite a bit of noise.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Cavitation, that reminds me of pistol shrimps...
It is king in creating caviation bubbles that knocks out prey or predators.
The temperature of the water when bubble collapses rises so fast that it can even start to emit light.

 

[lakedude]

Pistol Shrimp, wow!

 

[mindless1]

Your ex-lover's bunny is already dead?