I like the sound my TIG welder makes when I press the foot pedal and send bajillions of electrons hurtling across a slight gap between the tip of the torch and the metal I’m welding. It goes like this:
First there’s a slight hisss as a puff of argon flows into the gap to pave the way for the electrons.
A fraction of a second later, the pressure of all those electrons straining at the tungsten tip of the torch finally overcomes the natural reluctance of the electrons to jump out into thin air. There is a little crack! as they leap across that 1/16 of an inch of space, releasing a miniature thunderclap in the process.
That crack is followed by a calm, steady hum, which is oddly incongruous. Now hovering in that little gap is a brilliant blue-white cone, hotter than the surface of the sun, a state of matter that transforms or destroys whatever it touches, like Shiva summoned by a twitch of my right foot. And as that little cone wreaks incredible violence on the steel beneath it, all it has to say is “whmmmm”.