5 replies to this topic

[digger]

Right then

Benzoate whistles seem to work with both sodium and potassium without any issue. However apparently this is not the case with strontium, barium and copper benzoates. It has been said that they do whistle, however at a frequency above the human audible range. It has to be said that I have not seen any hard experimental evidence that this is actually the case, I get the feeling that this is just a theory.

So moving on, if this theory has some merit then the recent discovery (Chris M) that potassium sorbate does in fact whistle, albeit at a low frequency it may follow that some of the other metal sorbates may whistle in the audible range.

Does anyone have any experience of this?

I have just knocked up a few hundred grams of potassium sorbate, but I smashed my Buckner flask before I could filter it tonight so I will borrow one from work tomorrow to clean it up and filter it. So watch this space.

[Potassium chlorate]

A pretty experienced friend of mine claims that strontium, barium and copper benzoates do not whistle, unfortunately.

Though you might ram Ruby Red and Kyle Kepley's Emerald Green with a BP coreburner set and get coloured flames that "chirp" or "sputter".

[digger]

A pretty experienced friend of mine claims that strontium, barium and copper benzoates do not whistle, unfortunately.

I agree with this statement. However the hypothesis is that they do whistle at a higher frequency than a human can hear. Did your friend record and analyse the sound using a fast Fourier transform to do a power spectrum across the frequency range 20khz to 100khz to disprove the theory?

Edited by digger, 21 September 2010 - 10:49 PM.

[Potassium chlorate]

I agree with this statement. However the hypothesis is that they do whistle at a higher frequency than a human can hear. Did your friend record and analyse the sound using a fast Fourier transform to do a power spectrum across the frequency range 20khz to 100khz to disprove the theory?

No, He only stated the fact that a human ear cannot hear it.

[digger]

No, He only stated the fact that a human ear cannot hear it.

I would love someone to come along with the kit to prove or disprove many of the theory's that are banded about. There is so much that is stated as fact, but is probably just a a hypothesis that has been passed on so many times it becomes fact in the community consciousness.

If I had more time I would bugger about and do the experimental work myself. What I need is a lottery win so I can retire from the day job so I can experiment full time.

[Arthur Brown]

OK then who has a bat detector. They are from 15KHz upwards and often heard with a variable BFO on a MW radio receiver. Icarus- sounds like a job for your technical skills.