# Boiling water, electric stove, noise. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 2, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385 "2024-10-02T19:23:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/1 "2024-10-02T19:23:35Z")
Most of my life I have had residential electric stoves, but until recently, they had “conventional”, flat-coiled burners. All of those – when boiling water, no matter what kind of container or pot I used – made a loud noise during the heating process, at least until the water actually began boiling. Now I have a flat top, glass-top, electric stove (resistance heat, not induction). No matter what container I use, _there is no noise during the heating process._ So the noise probably isn’t coming from “boiling water releasing dissolved gasses that violently bubble to the surface” as suggested in one Google/Wikipedia post, since that would be happening in both processes. What causes this difference in sound? (I forget how it sounded the few times I had gas stoves.) ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/2 "2024-10-02T19:31:44Z")
what exactly were you hearing? Electric coil burners will make the occasional mechanical sound as the coils and other components thermally expand and contract when heating and cooling. Was that it? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/3 "2024-10-02T19:40:29Z")
It can be the pot vibrating on the flat top because the pot doesn’t have a perfectly flat bottom or the pot is flexible. Water in the pot is moving as it heats and can easily rock the pot. Moisture can also get trapped under the pot and can’t escape easily. That happens a lot if you put a pan of cold water on the stove because moisture is precipitating on the cold bottom of the pot. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/4 "2024-10-02T19:46:15Z")
I get that if the bottom of the pot is damp, perhaps because it was in the sink before I moved it to the stovetop. But I’ve never otherwise heard the noise described in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/5 "2024-10-02T19:59:37Z")
I have heard that often. And as I pointed out the water will condense on the bottom of the cold pot easily. I think an uneven bottom of the pot is more likely though. Did I write ‘precipitate’? I meant condense. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/6 "2024-10-02T20:03:17Z")
I think **TriPolar** has it backwards. I hear noise from conventional (flat coiled) burners, NOT glass-top stoves. Besides, there never has been any noticeable rocking of any pot in either environment. That would have been pretty obvious. The noise I used to hear from conventional burners is a hissing-type sound, but has no obvious reason or source (no noticeable bubbles). Once the pot is boiling, the noise diminishes, and the expected boiling-water sounds take over. This has happened for at least 6 different stoves in my long lifetime, so much that I assumed it was an artifact of electric stoves. Different pots, different stoves, different situations. **Dewey\_Finn,** I doubt that the hundreds or thousands of pots I have had in my lifetime have all been in the sink first, and no, they are not wet on the bottom, ever. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/7 "2024-10-02T20:04:57Z")
As I said, I’ve never heard what you hear and I use a small saucepan daily to make tea (often twice a day). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/8 "2024-10-02T20:19:00Z")
…and you use an electric (conventional) stove? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/9 "2024-10-02T20:20:35Z")
Yes, the kind with a spiral resistance element. And that’s the kind my mother used as far back as I remember (over fifty years). ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2024, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/10 "2024-10-02T20:41:43Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > The noise I used to hear from conventional burners is a hissing-type sound I get a hissing noise from conventional spiral burners whenever the bottom of the pot is wet, and not otherwise. I’ve always assumed it’s the moisture on the bottom of the pot reacting to the hot burner by boiling off (well before anything in the pot will boil.) I haven’t used a flat top stove so can’t compare. ---
**Author:** ![DaveUnknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@DaveUnknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveUnknown)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/11 "2024-10-03T05:00:06Z")
I know exactly what you’re talking about because I was thinking about it the other day while boiling water. So I asked the internet and saw below: > **[Why Is Water Loudest Just Before It Boils?](https://www.scienceabc.com/nature/why-is-water-loudest-just-before-it-boils.html)** > > Basically, there are three main sources of sound when the water boils: nucleation, cavitation and surface popping. Bursting of bubbles called cavitation is the loudest. Now, since I only have an electric stovetop, and haven’t had a gas stove for years, I can’t remember if I noticed if it happens on both, but it certainy happens on my electric stove. In fact the stove is probably about 60 years old or older, the kind with the “Calrod” burners. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/12 "2024-10-03T05:23:17Z")
Having once upon a time had an electric coil stovetop, and now glass - I’m going to guess a simple explanation. The coil gets red-hot and imparts that heat directly to the pot by conduction. The glass top does not get red-hot, it moreso allows radiation heating from an element below the glass. So the bottom of the pot is not getting as much heat as fast as when in contact with a red-hot element (but the stove looks futuristic!). Less heat, smaller bubbles cavitating… ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/13 "2024-10-03T08:25:39Z")
I think this is correct. If you live, as I do, in an advanced society where electric kettles are readily available and widely used, you observe that the noise of boiling water is much louder when a kettle is used than when water is boiled in a pot on the stovetop. In this case, of course, the energy transfer from heating element to water is very rapid, since there is no interposed pot-bottom to slow it. This analysis would suggest that, for a given quantity of water, rapid boiling is associated with a louder noise than slower boiling. Which means we need to ask the OP whether her new glass-top stove boils water more slowly than the old spiral elements stove did. Fun fact: in an _extremely_ advanced society you can, for an extra charge, buy a “quiet kettle” which boils water with much less noise than is usual. This acheived with a coating on the bottom of the kettle, or on a diffuser ring located just over the bottom, which through some very deep magic causes the bubbles to cavitate at a smaller size than they otherwise would. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/14 "2024-10-03T10:57:13Z")
I think you, I, and @Dewey_Finn could be hearing different sounds. No matter what make the noise the pot has a lot of contact with the flat top which may be acting like a sounding board and making the sound more apparent. I’ll throw in a gratuitous statement here: I don’t like flat top stoves. The flat top gets very hot and holds the heat making it difficult to control. If the pot or pan gets too hot it takes a long time for the stove top to cool down and sometime I have to move the pot off the burner. Maybe it’s just the stove I have now, but it also takes a long time to get hot unless I turn it all the way up, but then it easily gets too hot and creates that problem. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/15 "2024-10-04T12:43:27Z")
Yes. I would amend it to say that a spiral electric element is directly heating maybe 40% of the pot bottom surface it is in contact with, while the glass stove is heating 100% of the pot bottom but less intensely. So the total heat (calories) delivered and resulting boiling time is likely not too different. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/16 "2024-10-04T13:53:14Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I get a hissing noise from conventional spiral burners whenever the bottom of the pot is wet, and not otherwise. I’ve always assumed it’s the moisture on the bottom of the pot reacting to the hot burner by boiling off (well before anything in the pot will boil.) > > I haven’t used a flat top stove so can’t compare. In addition: after I wash a cast iron pan, I put it briefly on the stove to dry. So the pan will go on to the stove (wood stove if that’s going, electric stove if not) empty but wet. And I get the same noise from it – on either the electric stove or the wood stove. I also get the same noise from a kettle of water placed on the wood stove, if the outside of the kettle is wet; but not if it’s dry. The wood stove is flat top, of course; but also, of course, not electric. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boiling-water-electric-stove-noise-why/1008385/17 "2024-10-04T14:32:00Z")
I think some of us are talking about different noises, thus confusing the issue. I believe the noise the OP is talking about is the one referenced in the science article in post #11, and that is the loud noise that water makes just before it boils, variously described as a kind of whistling, shrieking, or whining noise, which disappears as soon as the water reaches a full boil and all you hear is a much quieter bubbling. This noise has nothing to do with the hiss of a wet pot on a hot burner or the vibration of a pot or its cover. According to the article, of the various processes that water goes through as it’s heated, the loudest is the process of cavitation, which occurs when water near the bottom of the pot is hotter than near the surface, and bubbles forming at the bottom and rising into cooler water collapse by the thousands in what is apparently a pretty energetic process. I’ve heard this noise with old-style spiral electric burners, and I hear exactly the same noise with the current glass-top stove, and indeed I’ve heard it with every stove I’ve ever had. It’s a sure sign that the water will be boiling in a few more seconds. It’s a mystery to me how anyone could **not** get this sound when boiling water on a stove. The only circumstance where I never hear it is when boiling water in the microwave, probably because it’s not heated from the bottom and the heating processes would be quite different.