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

Answer 1

Always a fun trick question, and not quite as silly as some suggest. Actually, it depends on which definition of "sound" you are using --

1 a : a particular auditory impression : TONE
b : the sensation perceived by the sense of hearing
c : mechanical radiant energy that is transmitted by longitudinal pressure waves in a material medium (as air) and is the objective cause of hearing

http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

So if you're asking about the vibrations which are the "objective cause of hearing" the answer would be, "Yes, it does MAKE a sound [cause] such vibrations". (objective sense)

But if you are using the ORIGINAL sense of "sound", as that which is actually HEARD by someone, then No, there is no sound made. (subjective sense). Note that this is the more ordinary way of using the word. If we say "he was so good, he didn't make a sound!" we're not really thinking about whether there were any sound-VIBRATIONS (that a machine or perhaps some creature with very acute sense of hearing could detect), but about whether he did did someting that affected us... that we HEARD.

I do think the role of the hearer, who takes in and inteprets the sound-waves, is important in all this. Sound is not JUST "sound waves" (the cause)

If we think of OTHER human senses the point might be clearer. Is it meaningful to talk about the "taste" or "smell" of something if there is no one with a SENSE of taste or smell?

Or ask 'What KIND of sound does the falling tree make? or what kind of sound does the crow or nightingale make?' The terms we use for these (as for taste and smell) are NOT descriptions of the vibrations but of our EXPERIENCE of them -- loud, thunderous, shrill, harsh, piercing, muffled, high, sweet, mournful .... (It's true that we might be able to scientifically describe the features of the sound-waves that are connected to our experiences, but that is not exactly the same thing.)

Answer 2

Ahhhh, good question, Grasshopper.

This one has been going around since God was a child. My theory---the tree makes a sound when it falls, of course, because of the vibrations. Vibrations are carried by air---air carries sound.

Just because 'no human' is around to here the sound, that does not mean that the sound isn't produced and heard elsewhere. Another similar question is: If a man picks an apple from a tree in Italy, does that affect the life of a farmer in Idaho?

Answer 3

What an ego-centric question. As if the laws of sound could be altered by the presence of a human. Silly. Sound reverberates through space with or without an audience.

Answer 4

No. It makes a vibration. A sound is the name given to a person or animal's interpretation of the vibration, so if no-one is around, it is just a vibration. It therefore makes no "sound", per se.

I thought about that too much lol...

Answer 5

OF COURSE IT MAKES A NOISE , YOU JUST CAN'T HEAR IT! ONE TIME I WAS DOW AT MY RIVER PROPERTY AND ACROSS THE RIVER FROM US THERE WAS THIS LOUD CRASHING/GRINDING SOUND I LOOK UP AND SEE A TREE HALF WAY IN THE WATER. THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE AROUND IT. I THOUGHT THAT A CAR HAD HIT THIS TREE. ANYWAYS THERE WAS PEOPLE BACKCOING ALL DAY AND TEARING DOWN OLD TREES AND THE CYPRESS TREES BY THE RIVER ENDED UP GETTING LOOSENED FROM THE GROUND AND BEGAN TO SHIFT, BUT THEY HAD NO ROOM EXCEPT TO THE RIVER!!!

Answer 6

If you fell down in a forest, you were deaf, and hurt yourself would you make a sound? Of course! Noise is not dependant on someone hearing it.

Answer 7

Yes

Answer 8

NO, sound waves but not sound 'till it hits someones ears. Probably ants heard it so it then did make a sound to them anyway. Nobody really cares what ants do unless they are biting or eating a house or human food though.

Answer 9

No, ofcourse it doesn't make a sound. Just like Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, sound is in the ears of the hearer.

Answer 10

How profound - how long did it take you to decide to ask this question - let me think on this a bit - in the meantime perhaps you could help me with this one - If a man is talking, and his wife is not around, is he still wrong - I'll get back to you on yours