(Regarding your “Can Rock Music Cook Eggs” column)
Well, let me say:
There is a huge difference between your home system and a 50,000 watt stadium system. The issue is not the dB level, but I would say, the amount of amplified lows the system can produce. While 120 dB is possible in a pair of headphones, the energy output is NOWHERE near the same as a stadium system.
If I read your column correctly, it essentially said that the eggs were cooked with vibrations. If this is the case, it would be plausible to say that more “bass” is needed to correctly carry out the experiment. Much like in the new “wireless charging” technologies, vibrations do in fact produce and transmit energy, causing heat and power. There’s a giant difference, for instance, between taping two 120 dB headphones producing high treble onto an egg - versus an egg on a pedestal right in front of gigantic speakers that can AND WILL make your innards vibrate.
I’m no scientist, but I would imagine that I’m making sense here.
The energy that matters is what hits the eggs. For example, a 50,000 Watt system 1,000 feet away will not send as much energy into the eggs as a 500 Watt system only a foot away. We’re talking about sound pressure level in this case.
Your assumption is sensible, however, in the case of the original egg “cooking” experiment in the laboratory, two devices were used: one with a resonant frequency of 1,200 Hz (in the mid-range) and one at 9,000 Hz (well into the treble range.) The primary apparatus used in the experiment was the 9,000 Hz one.