What's that sound on cars on a hot day?

  • Thread starter Thread starter flyingpig
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Cars Hot Sound
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
2 replies · 2K views
flyingpig
Messages
2,574
Reaction score
1
Like on a hot day, cars make these clicking sounds on the surface? Does having a silver or white-colored car make it worst? Because I've seen black -colored ones do that too
 
Physics news on Phys.org
flyingpig said:
Like on a hot day, cars make these clicking sounds on the surface? Does having a silver or white-colored car make it worst? Because I've seen black -colored ones do that too

Without actually hearing the same sounds that you hear, it is hard to say what they might be. I believe that a likely explanation is simply the expansion of sheet metal exposed to heat. There is always a certain amount of "looseness" where such parts join, and also a certain amount of friction that opposes free expansion. When the expansive forces overcome the frictional forces, the adjustment is abrupt--producing a "clicking" sound. Metal roofs on structures do exactly the same thing.
 
Let's just say the clicking sounds has a high frequency