If a tree falls down in a forest and no one is there to hear it. Will it still make a sound?

Answer 1

i dont understand why all these people are calling you stupid

sound is percived
if no one is able to percive it how can it be?

people the question is "if no one is there to HEAR it" if you record it and replay it later your still hearing it.

Answer 2

You don't want to hear the answer from a quantum physics perspective.

Some quantum theories posit reality is subjective and events require an observer to be real.

Schrodinger's Cat mind experiment:

A cat is placed in a chamber along with a Geiger counter, a very small amount of a radioactive isotope, a counter tube, and a flask of hydrocyanic acid.

The half life of the isotope is one hour. This means there is a 50/50 chance that one atom may decay, or equally, may not decay in an hour. If it does decay, the counter tube discharges through a relay, releasing a hammer that shatters the flask, killing the cat.

If you leave the setup alone for an hour, you could say the cat is alive if no atom decayed, or dead if it has. This creates a paradox wherein the cat is both alive and dead until you look and seal it's fate.

Answer 3

I first heard this dumb question when I was in the 7th grade back in 1953. It is often asked by pseudo-intellectuals trying to impress us with their intelligence.

The answer in 1953 and in 2007 was and still is........Sound is friction. The ear interprets the friction as being sound. If no one were present when the tree fell there would still be friction although there would be no ear to interpret the friction thus no sound.

If a tree fell and the only person present was deaf there would be the friction of the tree falling but there would be no sound in the deaf persons ear.

The lady that cleans my house is deaf. Last year she inadvertantly set of the burglar alarm. Even though the alarm was ring like crazy she never heard it. My neighbors could hear it but the cleaning lady could not hear. So there was sound for my neighbors and no sound for the deaf lady.

Answer 4

That tree makes not a whisper, however much pre-auditory clanging together of air molecules is in evidence. Sound is the information fed to the brain by sensory organs adapted for the task. Without the observer -- whether squirrel or lumberjack -- on the spot and ear to the wind, no such translation, no sound.

Answer 5

Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a longitudinal wave. Sound is characterized by the properties of sound waves, which are frequency, wavelength, period, amplitude, and speed.

Humans perceive sound by the sense of hearing. By sound, we commonly mean the vibrations that travel through air and can be heard by humans. However, scientists and engineers use a wider definition of sound that includes low and high frequency vibrations in air that cannot be heard by humans, and vibrations that travel through all forms of matter, gases, liquids and solids.

(Based on the text snippet above, its called sound only when it is heard by humans. Therefore the tree falling in a forest deprived of humans does not make a sound, it only causes a sound wave.)

Answer 6

Why would a tree fall down in a forest if there is no one around ??!!

Answer 7

Yes. The production of sound waves is in no way dependent on ones ability to hear. When you speak to a deaf person, do sound waves emanate from your vocal cords?

Answer 8

yes it makes the sound of one hand clapping..

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

Answer 9

Yes it will always make a sound weather is herd or not it still made the sound

Answer 10

Well...technically speaking no. The air vibrations are still present, but since a sound is something we hear, and no one hears it, then it is not a sound.

Answer 11

thats a question that noone nos the answers to because sound is always made when ure ears pick up the waves but if there is noone there to hear it ten its not a sound.