My pet-rockalike idea is a coffee cup that sings when it gets filled with hot coffee.
It is not hard to make. The idea is based on my experience with a ceramic coffee cup that started to sing (make noise) one morning. It sang ever morning when it was filled with hot coffee. The singing lasted nearly a minute.
Upon inspection, I discovered that the cup had a microscopic crack through the ceramic covering, perhaps leading to the porus clay within the ceramic covering.
I think it works like this when hot coffee is poured into the cup, air expands from the pourous clay to excape through the crack. If the crack is just the right thickness excaping air flowing through crack will create tone..
To keep it going the next day I think it is important to dry the cup before it cools so the clay will refill with air instead of coffee.
Remarkable, I didn't dry it before it cooled down. After washing, the clay dried on its own. I used the cup for weeks until the wife convinced me that I deserve to drink coffee in the morning from an unbroken cup in silence.
Alas, my wife finds joy in perfection, a quality that I am often reminded to strive for.
el dueno-- el dueno, Apr 13 2008 I like mine black http://www.youtube....watch?v=mz3UwLqiolg [jaksplat, Apr 13 2008] Another Singing Cup http://www.alibaba....39/Singing_Cup.html"the cup is harmless to human body", always a plus. [Amos Kito, Apr 13 2008] Strange Whistling Tea -- Blog Post http://jennsrandomo...o-knows-answer.htmlConclusion: It was either a ghost, a hole, or the de-humidifier. Be warned, some of the replies are colonialist crap. [Amos Kito, Apr 13 2008] Pineapple Emotion Amplifier Pineapple_20emotion_20amplifier [phundug, Apr 14 2008] Mot Cadeau / Gift Word _22Mot_20Cadeau_22_...20_22Gift_20Word_22Please put the original croissants back! They got lost during the Halfbakery Crash. [django, Apr 25 2008] Good morning https://www.youtube...watch?v=L89IDDq30J8How are you ? Howdy Howdy [popbottle, Nov 07 2014] Several flaws could be used for multitimbral singing.-- wagster, Apr 13 2008 Now if it were two cups of coffee you'd have a duet.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 13 2008 "Pet-rockalike..." I'm going to have to find a reason to use that. Maybe it should be a tagline.-- RayfordSteele, Apr 14 2008 This reminded me a lot of the "screaming pineapple" idea from long ago (linked). All these inanimate objects trying so hard to tell us something - why won't we listen???-- phundug, Apr 14 2008 I had a similar idea [see link]: the "Mot Cadeau"/"Gift Word" - a decorative bowl in which a word is embedded; when you fill it with water and turn it, the poetic word dedicated to your friend or beloved one mysteriously echoes out of the water.
The idea used to have lots of croissants, but they were deleted with the HB crash.
So please, don't fishbone it.
Obviously, El Dueno, I like the technique applied to other contexts, like coffee mugs. Thx.-- django, Apr 25 2008 They sell at ultra-orthodox Jewish stores in Israel a cup that when you press it down on the table, you hear it give the traditional blessing to be said before you drink water, in a cute little kids voice. My kids would press it again and again and never get to the drink.
If we took it away from them, we would find ourselves pressing the button. It was quite addictive, and very unquiet.-- pashute, Nov 06 2014 Thinking about mass production. Could tiny pipes be inset on the inside of the cup (not unlike a pipe organ) opening out to the top of the cup. The pipes need to have the correct wave guide shape. The pipe base height could control when the sound starts depending on your speed of pour.
People without sight would have an indicator on fluid level.-- wjt, Nov 07 2014 random, halfbakery