There are few urban legends in the glass world as pervasive as the idea that an operatic soprano voice is so powerful that it could shatter glass.

A large part of this comes from the world of advertising, as a Memorex advert from the 1970s starring jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald showed her shattering a wine glass with her voice, creating the image in people’s minds that has since been augmented by countless comedy sketches and parodies.

In this particular case, amplification was used to boost her voice, creating the wave of sonic destruction, but a question uncommonly asked to glazing specialists is whether an opera soprano, with a high-pitched and loud unamplified voice, could shatter glass quite as readily.

The answer, surprisingly, is yes, although the truth behind it is far less clear than the champagne flute that was so commonly turned into shards.

Glass has a natural resonant frequency, which is the speed of its vibration if it is disturbed by a sound wave or is physically bumped. This is what causes the nice ringing sound a fine glass makes when it is clinked.

If you managed to match this pitch, the air molecules around the glass would vibrate at the same frequency, causing the glass to vibrate as well. If the vibrations are strong enough the glass could vibrate itself into dust.

It is certainly possible, therefore, to match that note with a loud enough voice, but it requires pitch-perfect singing and more than a little good fortune. The glass would only break if it had defects imperceptible to the human eye but big enough to shatter under pressure.

Historically, there is almost no proof of it happening, with rumours that tenor Enrico Caruso could shatter glass being staunchly denied by his widow.

However, in 2005, it was proven on the US television show Mythbusters that it was possible, as vocal coach Jamie Vendera shattered a wine glass on television unassisted after 12 attempts and a 105-decibel note.

This makes it theoretically possible but requires a loud voice and a lot of luck.