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2006-08-03 13:16:20 · 18 answers · asked by douglas32200 1 in Science & Mathematics Physics

first time i was one this site.........realy cool. quesion i asked was.... if a tree falls in the woods and NO ONE was around to hear it...does it make a sound? i got alot of interesting answers. but there are to many variables thrown in to answer. just a quesion i always asked myself as a kid growning up. lol ...........mabey there is no answer. thanks everybody

2006-08-03 13:55:49 · update #1

including the bears and the animals

2006-08-03 14:49:46 · update #2

i mean no one

2006-08-03 14:50:18 · update #3

including chuck boris with his hearing aid

2006-08-03 14:51:49 · update #4

18 answers

Actually, according to quantum dynamics, if no one is there to perceive it, then the tree exsists only as a probabilty function and only becomes a reality when it is being observed.
Likewise the result of its supposed falling is only a probability and likewise only becomes a reality when being observed. So the answer would be:

"Probably". :)

2006-08-11 00:55:01 · answer #1 · answered by sparc77 7 · 2 1

Yes and no. Basically, it depends entirely on your definition of what a sound is. There are two conflicting definitions here:

a) Vibrations transmitted through an elastic solid or a liquid or gas, with frequencies in the approximate range of 20 to 20,000 hertz, capable of being detected by human organs of hearing. (also: Transmitted vibrations of any frequency.)

b) The sensation stimulated in the organs of hearing by such vibrations in the air or other medium.

If your following definition a) then yes, there is a sound, because no matter if a person is there to recieve the emitted waves, the tree will still make them. If, however, you're using definition b), then no, it will not make a sound. Definition b) claims that the actual sensation your brain detects is considered sound.

Unfortunately, both definitions are valid, so we're left with both yes and no.

Hope this helps.

2006-08-03 13:25:10 · answer #2 · answered by CubicMoo 2 · 1 0

properly, you already referred to the 1st ingredient i exchange into going to declare: Autumn did get Schroedinger's Cat test incorrect. And for a 2d ingredient: establishing the container and viewing what occurs does impact the end bring about a fashion, yet in accordance together with his test, that's greater precise to declare that establishing the container and seeing what surpassed off cements one result into being. Schroedinger theorized that, till somebody opened the container and observed if the cat activated the poison mechanism or no longer, then the two consequences have been happening concurrently, and the finished ingredient exchange into in a type of 'flux'. And mutually as a rock could be laid low with vibrations led to by using the tree falling, that's no longer the comparable as asserting that it may rather make a 'sound'. that's in basic terms whilst that's interpreted in a undeniable way that that's rather a valid. In a small way, that's like the 'international superpositioning' thought...assume you are the only guy or woman who hears a ball bouncing in the back of you. That ball, in accordance to the belief, ought to truly be bouncing in one hundred different places at as quickly as, yet once you turn and actually view it, then that's cemented in that one particular place. in case you do no longer come far flung from quantum physics in basic terms a touch loopy, then you somewhat did no longer somewhat comprehend it. :P

2016-10-01 10:59:13 · answer #3 · answered by bondieumatre 4 · 0 0

Yes, it does. It works the same way as if somebody was around to hear it. Just because nobody can hear the sound, doesn't mean that there wasn't a sound.
For example, you're talking to your friend in the woods, and all of a sudden, a tree falls on him. It makes a sound. But you keep talking, and nobody hears you. Are you making a sound? Of course.
Now, hypothetically, say it was just your friend in the woods, and it falls on him, and you know a tree fell on him because some tourists decided to explore the same woods the next day, and find your friends dead body. Now, your friend can't tell you the tree falling made a sound, because he's dead, but I can certainly tell you it made a sound.

2006-08-03 13:26:43 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 1

Of course it does. The fact that there is no human to hear it doesn't negate the scientific mechanism of sound production. The cause of the sound is there, the sound waves are there. Besides, ask the bird that had a nest on that tree, or the bear that used its trunk as a marker for his territory. If they were in the vicinity when it happened I am pretty sure that they heared their beloved tree fell down in great agony.

2006-08-03 14:47:25 · answer #5 · answered by jorge f 3 · 0 0

Yes 100% it will make sound....Sound is a form of energy

during that process all the potential energy converts to other form including sound energy and we know that

energy cannot be created nor destroyed but can be change from one form to another...

so we cant say, there is no sound,as it is against the law and everything falls makes sound energy

Hope it helps

2006-08-03 13:32:50 · answer #6 · answered by Da Sahar SToRaY 2 · 0 0

Upon theory, facts and observations it will make a sound. Try it yourself. Bring along a tape recorder and time control bomb in woods. Choose one big tree and set the timer enough for you to get away from it and return the other day, rewind and play the tape, you'll hear the sound. :o)

2006-08-10 19:55:34 · answer #7 · answered by wacky_racer 5 · 0 0

Sound only exists if it is heard. Its existance is relative since it can not independantly arise and it also can not exist unless "no sound" exists. What part of the tree or the woods or the action of falling could be sound. If the sound does exist without without someone hearing it, does it still exist with out anyone to remember it?

2006-08-10 13:18:53 · answer #8 · answered by katie V 2 · 0 0

ya just take it from the familly guy ("hay talking tree if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? ya bill fell last week and He wont shut up about it")

2006-08-03 14:19:36 · answer #9 · answered by shanebrunet 1 · 0 0

If a tree falls in a lake and there are no eyes there to see it, will it still make a wave?

Sound is just a wave in the air. Our ears are just one way to detect it.

2006-08-04 08:50:33 · answer #10 · answered by oil field trash 7 · 1 0

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