Can a cup of tea picking up wifi signals?

[Waldo 96]

Okay, this may sound odd. I've just made myself a brew; of hot Jasmine green tea. Came upstairs to do some work, in my office room, there's a lot of computer equipment, bluetooth, wifi, signals etc.

 

So, I hear this buzzing noise, and I'm trying to figure out the source. Turns out, it was my cup of tea! Every time I held it close to my ear I get this buzzing sound, like some kind of electrical interference (similar to a tape loading a game on a spectrum computer). Move the cup away from my ear, and it goes quiet, move the cup to my ear, noise increases...

 

Is that possible?

[Padders 2,866]

Happens all the time, pick up a shell from the beach, bring it home put it to your ear and you can hear the sea, fascinating is"nt it.

[Lex Luthor 10]

Happens loads to me. Think it's something to do with the glazing wearing off the cups after going in the dishwasher so often and hairline cracks in cups. Usually accompanied with very slight leakage on the coffee table around the bottom of the cup. Sometimes it almost sounds like singing.

 

Maybe that's where the Chi-lites got their name from, or PG Harvey.

Edited March 30, 2018 by Lex Luthor

[Ontarian1981 10]

Happens loads to me. Think it's something to do with the glazing wearing off the cups after going in the dishwasher so often and hairline cracks in cups. Usually accompanied with very slight leakage on the coffee table around the bottom of the cup. Sometimes it almost sounds like singing.

 

Maybe that's where the Chi-lites got their name from, or PG Harvey.

 

Or the Fortunes " Storm In A Teacup" maybe.

[Fogey 10]

Not quite as bizarre a thread as I thought it was going to be. I have certainly had numerous occasions where a cup of coffee has driven me nuts trying to figure out where the sound was coming from, although it usually stops when I pick it up, - I had assumed some moisture on the bottom of the cup had formed a bit of a seal, and air trapped under the mug was heating up and expanding to escape through the seal and that was the buzzing/hissing.

[Waldo 96]

That makes more sense, that it was some kind of physical process (movement of liquid and air) originating in the cup that was causing the noise, rather than it picking up some kind of electrical interference?

[Cyclone 10]

Water will absorb a small amount of the wifi signal, but so small an amount of energy as to basically be undetectable.

More likely are the explanations about heated air being forced out through a crack.

You could wait until your tea is stone cold and see if the noise has gone.

[monkey104 10]

I’m sat near to the wireless Bose sound system lifting my coffee to my ear. Just had the strangest of looks from the wife!

[Guest]

I've had it with a water bottle a few times before my brain kicking in to remind me what it is. A really high pitched noise that's actually caused by a minute gap in the top and the pressure inside the bottle slowly forcing air out through it. Has driven me nuts several times before