If a tree falls in a forest,no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Well?

No it cannot and wahts up with all the voting thingys are they not working or something?

Well, there are sound waves.

I guess that technically counts.

No,Because the sound waves dont reach anyones ears,therefore theres nothing to hear it.No sound.xxDustmanxx

Since when does sound cease to exist without someone witnessing it?bluezy

My thoughts exactly!

[QUOTE="xxDustmanxx"]No,Because the sound waves dont reach anyones ears,therefore theres nothing to hear it.No sound.bluezy

Since when does sound cease to exist without someone witnessing it?bluezy

Or anything for that matter. It's like saying an earthquake didn't devastate a city in Turkey because you weren't there when it happened. A falling tree makes a sound regardless of whether or not anyone is around to hear it.

No,Because the sound waves dont reach anyones ears,therefore theres nothing to hear it.No sound.xxDustmanxx

Sound is nothing more than vibrations in air. It is not dependent on our perception of those vibrations. That's just one definition. So when you get right down to it, the answer to this question depends wholly on how you define sound.

It really depends on how you think. There really is no answer to this. I for one believe that it does make a sound.

If you hurt a person and you don't feel the pain are they really hurt?

There is no answer. It is a parable meant to inspire contemplation.foxhound_fox

[QUOTE="bluezy"]Since when does sound cease to exist without someone witnessing it?pianist

Or anything for that matter. It's like saying an earthquake didn't devastate a city in Turkey because you weren't there when it happened. A falling tree makes a sound regardless of whether or not anyone is around to hear it.

Depends on whether you believe there is "matter" beyond our perception of it. The fact that when you witness a tree you are not witnessing "The" tree but rather light being reflected off the tree into our retinas whereon electro-chemical reactions take place and you perceive a percept, that is what your senses are telling you it is, but it is not "The" tree. This percept varies amongst everyone, no two percepts could ever be the same. So again does this tree exist beyond you, your mind and the senses which behold it? If no two people perceive the same tree in the same way ever, what does that make of "The" tree? Where is "The" tree? How does it exist?

If the world is dependent on the mind of the beholder, then what is the epistemological nature of the world around us. To us the world is then wholly dependent on our experiences of it, since we can never know the "Real" world, nor know how other people view their worlds, since their senses and sense data are different and separate from ours.

Unless said tree is a freak of science and cannot create sound upon being uprooted, and eventually hitting something, yes, yes it does make a sound. Just because nothing is around doesn't mean that it doesn't create sound waves.

Use your brains. This is the most simple thing ever concieved...

in reality, it does make a sound, it's just that no one hears it, but it's there.

it's like that piece of chip that drops on the floor and under the couch while eating. After days, you don't know it's there, but it's there.

This is not unlike a religious question. Like someone inquired me before "How do you know you have a brain of you can't see it?". Personally, I think it's a dumb question, like this one, but you simply can't know. Just like you can't "know" that god doesn't exist.

Since you can't hear it, there's no way to tell.

yes..... ur intelligence has to be pretty darn low if u say no lol outbreak201

:| Many a better mind has contemplated the question and come away perplexed and you mouth off where others dare tread.

[QUOTE="foxhound_fox"]There is no answer. It is a parable meant to inspire contemplation.bluezy

Yes, yes, my pretties! Go forth and answer rhetorical questions! MUAHAHAHA!!

Anyways... The answer is obvious. :|

No, it does not make "a sound". Sound is the phenomenon of pressure waves propagating through the air. These waves then enter the ear, wheere the input is transmitted to the brain, which interprets the information relayed to it by the ear in order to result in something being "heard".

Here's the thing...what is "heard" IS "the sound".

If someone asks you what the sound of thunder is, you don't speak in terms of amplitude, wavelength, or frequency. You describe what you HEAR. If you don't hear it, then it doesn't sound like anything. It's that simple.

Yes, sound waves exist regardless of whether or not anyone can hear them. But "sound waves" are NOT "a sound". Sound waves are a very real, independent thing. "A sound", on the other hand, is dependent on the OBSERVER. And if there is no observer, then "a sound" doesn't exist. There are only pressure waves propagating through the air.

No, it does not make "a sound". Sound is the phenomenon of pressure waves propagating through the air. These waves then enter the ear, wheere the input is transmitted to the brain, which interprets the information relayed to it by the ear in order to result in something being "heard".

Here's the thing...what is "heard" IS "the sound".

If someone asks you what the sound of thunder is, you don't speak in terms of amplitude, wavelength, or frequency. You describe what you HEAR. If you don't hear it, then it doesn't sound like anything. It's that simple.

Yes, sound waves exist regardless of whether or not anyone can hear them. But "sound waves" are NOT "a sound". Sound waves are a very real, independent thing. "A sound", on the other hand, is dependent on the OBSERVER. And if there is no observer, then "a sound" doesn't exist. There are only pressure waves propagating through the air.

MrGeezer

Exactly what i was trying to explain earlier.Well put.

It makes sound waves, but it isn't heard as a sound if no one actually hears it. So it makes sound waves. If you count that as a sound, then yes. But if an ear has to intercept it in order for it to be a sound, then it doesn't make a sound.

EDIT: If I had read some of the other posts, I would have noticed that everybody already summed this up. Sorry for the redundancy.

[QUOTE="bluezy"]Since when does sound cease to exist without someone witnessing it?pianist

Or anything for that matter. It's like saying an earthquake didn't devastate a city in Turkey because you weren't there when it happened. A falling tree makes a sound regardless of whether or not anyone is around to hear it.

Incorrect. It's more analogous to asking what a Granny Smith apple LOOKS like.

Take a Granny Smith Apple. It's always gonna have the same wavelengths of light being reflected off of it. But a normal person will say that it's green, while someone with total color blindness will say that it's gray.

The question is NOT asking about the sound waves propagating through the air. It is asking about the PERCEPTION of sound, which does not exist if there is no observer.

If a Granny Smith apple falls in the forest, and no one is around to see it, does it still look green? Of course not. Even when people ARE there to see it, even THAT doesn't guarantee that it looks green.

And that's the nature of this question.

yes it does, sound waves are produced. just because there aren't any receivers within range doesn't mean it doesn't make a sound.Pearl_of_Egypt

Actually according to Quantum Mechanics, in this situation the sound would not exist unless someone was present to hear it. Look up Copenhagen interpretation

[QUOTE="Pearl_of_Egypt"]yes it does, sound waves are produced. just because there aren't any receivers within range doesn't mean it doesn't make a sound.trodeback

Actually according to Quantum Mechanics, in this situation the sound would not exist unless someone was present to hear it. Look up Copenhagen interpretation

I'm sorry but I checked the link and I don't see where it says that. but it's also almost 4 am here so I might have missed it.

[QUOTE="trodeback"]

[QUOTE="Pearl_of_Egypt"]yes it does, sound waves are produced. just because there aren't any receivers within range doesn't mean it doesn't make a sound.Pearl_of_Egypt

Actually according to Quantum Mechanics, in this situation the sound would not exist unless someone was present to hear it. Look up Copenhagen interpretation

I'm sorry but I checked the link and I don't see where it says that. but it's also almost 4 am here so I might have missed it.

Well it has more to do with stuff like electron orbitals but the idea is the same. Something doesn't really exist until your observe it. Until you observe it cannot be proven one way or another. Does the tree make a sound or doesn't it. The only way to find out is if something is there to record or observe the sound. If there isn't anything there to observe it then we must assume a paradox. That is, the sound does not exist.