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It's Like Music To My Ears: The Sound Of A Red-Hot Ball Of Nickel Being Dropped Into A Cup Of Water

January 9, 2013 / cooling off, great now i want a ball of red-hot nickel to play with, having a great time, hehehehehehe what the heck little ball why are you making those noises?, hot, i like those sounds, metal, music to my ears, neat!, noises, science, sounds, sure why not, that was a lightswitch plate right?, tssssssssssss, water

nickel-in-water-sounds.jpg

This is a short video of a red-hot ball of nickel being dropped into a cup of water, and the resulting noises it makes. They're funny. I especially liked the very end, it reminded me of the sound you hear whenever you teleport somewhere. Speaking of -- I can't even tell you how many times I've arrived somewhere with mismatched body parts. PROTIP: Never teleport anywhere with someone whose penis is smaller than yours.

Hit the jump for the video.

Thanks to carey, who dropped a handful of marbles into a cup of water with much less impressive results until her roommate drank them and freaked out. Then things got good.

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There are Comments
  • cabbo

    Sound design just got 100 times easier.

  • meo

    whose, not who's. who's = who is. i thought GW had good grammar

  • that was the best dubstep song I've ever heard!

  • DoubleFish

    I bet Michael Bay's sound effects guys are all sharing this video to each other right now.

  • That was totally not what I expected.

  • Brant Alan

    A sound effects guy would be totally hard right about now.

  • I am a sound effects guy, and I am totally hard.

  • MC

    So from my understanding, we just witnessed a Leidenfrost Effect in "force field" form. The extreme heat of the nickel sphere caused the gas to suspend the water surrounding it, further preventing any contact of the water with the nickel; like a spherical micro-environment of steam. Once the ball began to cool down the steam force field ruptures: the several other sounds were caused by milliseconds of water contacting the ball, creating similar impulses of the initial ball to water contact.

    I also couldn't help but wonder if this same effect occurs once you toss the Earth's core into a large enough ocean. That would be interesting to watch.

  • JJtoob

    I didn't know water could be measured in milliseconds.

  • Matthew Little

    It would look a lot different. Think: Massive steam explosion. After that, maybe a similar effect.

  • Konstantin

    Part of the sound is from the nickel sphere colliding with the ceramic container. The generated steam seems to be generating a cushion sufficient to suspend the sphere, but only just. Since there is not much water bellow, the cushion quickly fails. As the sphere touches the container, that bit of it cools, allowing water to approach, that water flash-evaporates, picking the sphere up and the cycle repeats. This is responsible for the "singing" noise. The more hissing part of it is as you describe, and is not dissimilar to the noise the kettle makes just prior to boiling.

  • Konstantin

    If I was nice and warm, and somebody threw me into the cold water, I would not be happy either.

  • Ahh, but if I was being heated to a scolding 10,000°C, I would be quite satisfied in a cold water bath!

  • Leo

    Did that ball of nickel just PEW PEW at me?

  • Ralfone

    Don't be such a narcissist, it pew pew'd the whole interwebz.

  • pew pew

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