Why the Shower Curtain Attacks You
The curtain billows inward the moment the water starts. Evan tests the three competing explanations, including a tiny indoor tornado, and tells you which one survived the evidence.
The Kettle That Goes Quiet Before It Boils
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Show notes
Listen to the kettle
Put a kettle on and really listen. It hisses, roars, falls almost silent, then rumbles into a full boil. Each stage is a different physical event. Evan explains the bubbles that form on the element, collapse in cooler water with a snap, and finally survive all the way up. There is a recorded experiment with a glass pot and a torch.
- Nucleation and why bubbles start on scratches
- The collapse that makes the roar
- Why it goes quiet just before boiling
- The role of dissolved air in the first minute
- A listener asks why mountain tea tastes weak
Next week, the shower curtain that attacks you and the pressure behind it.
Transcript
Hey, welcome to Why the Kettle Sings. I am Evan Castellano, I taught physics for eleven years, and these days I build museum exhibits, which means my job is still getting people to say huh, I never noticed that. This show is about the things in your house that are secretly doing physics. Naturally we begin with the kettle. Next time you make tea, listen. It hisses, then it roars, then, right before boiling, it goes almost quiet. That silence is my favourite sound in physics and I will explain exactly what the bubbles are doing. I filmed an experiment with a glass pot and a flashlight that you can copy tonight. At the end, a listener from Denver asks why tea on a mountain tastes weak. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts. Kettle on.
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