If a tree falls in a forest...?

Question

This question has been making me ponder. If a tree falls in a forest but no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? I say yes, what do you think.

Answer 1

The question is constructed in such a way as to be unprovable either way. According to the scientific method, that means neither answer is a valid hypothesis. That is, the question has no meaning.

Answer 2

Well, it kind of depends where you are exactly. If you were in a forest where every bit of air was sucked out, or if you were in a normal forest that has everything a forest has, like air.

Lest's just say there is a forest and for some reason every drop of air was sucked out. Right after that area becomes a vacuum, let's say a tree falls and hits the ground. In this case, there will be no sound. However, everything will be the same, amount of impact; kinetic energy; gravitational acceleration; etc. With the absence of air, there is nothing to carry the sound waves. However, if someone or something was smart enough to put their ear on the ground, that someone or something will hear the sound. Instead of the air carrying the sound waves, the ground carries it instead.

If the same thing happened in a forest with air, a someone or something can hear the fall of the tree without putting their ear on the ground. There is air to carry the sound waves to the person's ear. Sound can only travel through a medium. Anything(even air) that is made of mass can carry sound waves.

Oh yeah, if there was no one to hear it, I think it WILL make a sound. Humans are not the only ones that can hear.

Answer 3

If a tree falls in a forest and nobody's around to hear it and it lands on a mime does anyone care?
If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to hear it and somebody puts it on a flatbed and they take it down the highway and it falls off the truck and causes a massive accident and they make a movie out of it called Final Destination 2, will people still go to see the movie, even though the first one sucked out loud and was stupid and pointless just because people have some morbid fascination with seeing other people die in horribly improbable ways?

Answer 4

Of course the whole purpose of this question is to make you ponder. There is no correct answer, in that you can adequately defend either answer (yes or no). The point of the question is the pondering of it. - and you are already doing that. Congratulations to you.
Questions such as this -- actually DO help to develop your ability to think and reason through difficult problems - a quality that will aide you again and again through this life on Earth..

Answer 5

It depends what color the tree is. (See the question "Why are trees blue?") Only green trees make a sound. Whether or not anyone is around to hear it. I mean, they hear each other, no?

Answer 6

Tree's don't fall in the forest when nobody is there. Aliens come and knock em over but use antigravity to lay them down silently.

Answer 7

Yes. The tree hitting th ground creates soundwaves. The soundwaves are there regardless of the presence of people. Saying that sound doesn't exist without ears is like saying light doesn't exist without eyes.

Answer 8

The real question is, if Helen Keller fell down in a forest would she make a sound?

Answer 9

When something hits the ground, it causes vibrations. These vibrations are transferred to the air. If something is around that has a working auditory system, this will be thought of as a sound.

Answer 10

no it does not make a sound. by definition sound is the perception of the waves produced by something. since no one is around to perceive the wave there is no sound. how ever any animal or beast with hearing would perceive it as a sound.