Is it possible for high pitched sound to be emitted when a DC current is discharged at a high rate for example during direct short to ground from a battery source?

 

Not very likely. You'd have to imagine something vibrating at a high frequency. So far as I know batteries don't vibrate and neither do wires. A spark might be classified as a "high pitched sound" but you didn't mention sparks in your original question.

 

Is it possible for high pitched sound to be emitted when a DC current is discharged at a high rate for example during direct short to ground from a battery source?

It is often the exclamation that comes from the one who shorted the battery to ground!

 

There is the plasma speaker...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_speaker

 

but just discharging a dc current to ground is not a plasma speaker. the plasma speaker has a modulated high voltage.

 

So no resonance through wire material or as a result of heat generation? What about the battery itself and internal components reacting to rapid discharge (lead/acid)? OR from reverse flow through full wave rectifier if it were shorted or open at one or more diodes?

 

Nothing comes to mind. Has anybody else experienced this phenomena?

 

A defective lead-acid battery might whine.

 

how might this happen? Are u referring to the gasses escaping the battery or some other cause?

 

I believe you heard something, but I also believe you were deceived. Some other substance must be involved, such as melting, boiling, and rupturing of insulation on the the wire carrying the current or a substance on the surface of the "ground" being vaporized.

 

how might this happen? Are u referring to the gasses escaping the battery or some other cause?

Unfortunately, I don't know the mechanism. I do know that I heard a mystery whining sound, and when I disconnected one of my lead-acid batteries, it stopped. That battery would normally be maybe 13 volts, but it was down to 10, and I was unable to charge it.

 

sounds sorta like what a teapot might do when the steam escapes through a small opening. out-gassing from the battery seems the most likely explanation.

 

Is it possible for high pitched sound to be emitted when a DC current is discharged at a high rate for example during direct short to ground from a battery source?

Inasmuch as a direct current metal-arc is, necessarily, 'disruptive' (and, hence, 'oscillatory') in nature, it would seem possible from a theoretic standpoint --- Although I cannot claim personal experience of the phenomenon...

Just my $.02

Best regards
HP