if a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound if so how do you know?

Answer 1

If you stand right beside the tree then u will hear the sound as well as feel da pain on ya neck hahahaha

Answer 2

I think a lot of people mistake the phenomenon of sound with the propagation of pressure waves in air. I guess what I am trying to say is that 'sound' is a process that requires both a source and a receiver to be realised; without a receiver it is just modulations of air pressure.

So in summary, no a tree that falls in the woods with no person/animal around the hear it does not make a sound.

Answer 3

The physics of acoustic waves propagating from a disturbance are not affected by the presence or absence of a detector. The entropy of the universe increases are a consequence and this could be measured. Just hire Maxwell's demon for a day. To answer the question in the same spirit that it was asked, I pose another.
If a man says something in the forest and there is no woman around to hear, is he still wrong?

Answer 4

How would the tree know if I was there or not. If I hear it fall when I'm there, why would it not make a sound when I'm not there?

Answer 5

Only if there is a receiver of the sound. Sound requires a sender and a conscious receiver. The tree would be the sender in your example. A chipmunk/person/bird present in the vicinity of the tree would be a conscious receiver and there would be sound.

A tape recorder doesn't qualify as a receiver because it's not conscious. Once the tape is listened to by a chipmunk/person/bird, then it would confirm a sound was made.

Answer 6

I was in the woods when a tree fell and it did in fact make a sound.

Answer 7

Yes it makes a sound because the air particles move as it hits the ground. They set off a wave. If you put a microphone in the forest, it would make the microphone vibrate, and this would make a current flow, and so you would know that a sound had been made.

Answer 8

If I was present in that very same area in the woods where the tree has fallen, then yes I would clearly hear it. And you'd probably hear cracking branches, rustling of leaves, and a deep thud noise.

Answer 9

This has been asked before - but it's a matter of opinion. When it falls it produces the sound waves that are converted to sound when they reach someone's ears, but whether it counts as sound if no one there is debatable - hence the fact that the question has no definitive answer.

Answer 10

I have already answered this one at length, this time I will be brief.
Of course it makes a sound, that will be heard only if I am
there to hear it. This is one of the basic theories of philosophy.
"It was heard therefore I exist" and know how to react.
But animals also hear but react instinctively, running, avoiding
because they know no better than animal instincts.