If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a noise? ((i think it would.. im not dumb lol)?

Question

?

Answer 1

(The usual form is "does it make a SOUND?" though the basic argument is the same for either word)

Always a fun trick question, and not quite as silly as some suggest. Actually, it depends on which definition of "sound" (or "noise") we use --

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 something that affected us... that we HEARD.

I do think the role of the hearer, who takes in and interprets 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

Alright, think about it. Of course the tree makes a sound. Just
because people aren't there to hear it, doesn't mean that some 500 lb hunk of wood doesn't make a sound when it smashes the earth with an accelerating velocity of 9.8 meters/sceond squared!
But if a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, and it hits a mime, does anybody care?

Answer 3

If you define sound as the vibration of matter, then YES the tree makes a sound.

If you say that in order to have sound you must have a receiver, then NO the tree does not make a sound except for those hearing creatures in the forest near enough to receive the vibrations.

Answer 4

Of course it does. The question has to do with a philosophical ambiguity of whether something really happens if no one is aware of it, but that's too complicated for here, and rather lame anyway.

Answer 5

I say it does, and by the way the axe you see in my hand is for decorative purposes only, I had nothing, I repeat nothing to do with that tree being chopped down.

Answer 6

i have recordings of the forest. nobody was there but you can still hear trees falling.

Answer 7

Yes, though no one hears it, it still produces soundwaves.

Answer 8

I always say it wouldn't just to start the argument. You can't prove that it would.

Answer 9

yes, laws of physics still apply when humans aren't around.

Answer 10

yea it does but nobody hears it