If a tree falls...

'If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?'

Let's just say for the sake of argument that yes, a tree that falls in a forest does make a sound. But my question is, how does the tree sound when it falls? and where did it fall? It seems to me like there are almost a million ways to picture it happening and imagining what the event would sound like.

hmm....:sifone:

 

The same way it would sound if someone were there at the time.

Onto the ground...

 

The tree roots scream as they are torn from the earth.

 

anything that falls to the ground makes sound, trees also makes a sound while falling but the loudness of the sound deepends to the size of the tree.

 

there is no tree!

 

Yes, falling trees make sounds no matter if you are there or not.

 

There are critters in the forest that hear it fall . Lets hope that it does not fall on critters , and the little birds have all hatched and flown away . desert rat

 

Like "Yay, finally some air!!"

 

A falling tree will emit sound pressure wave vibrations into the air whether or not someone is around to observe it or not.

The only possible way a tree falling could NOT make a sound is if the earths atmosphere was completely sucked away first. Like if our solar system collided with another star or something with enough gravity to strip the earth's atmosphere.

 

And there you have it

 

Humans do not have to be present in order for objective events to occur. The question is an egocentric jack-off philosophical question.

 

No. A sound is defined as something that is heard. Who knows what a sound is that no one can hear, but it's not a sound. The observer does alter objective reality, because he/she is a part of objective reality.

 

I agree with the majority of you, the fallen tree would have made a sound. What kind of sound is not as important as the fact that there are an infinite amount of sounds the tree COULD have made. That kind of stuff fascinates me, that's all.

 

Wrong. Sound is defines as vibrations that CAN be heard, not vibrations that MUST be heard.

So a microphone does not record sound if there's no person near it?

 

Even if that is the case, there is still a difference between a vibration that is heard and a vibration that is not heard. You can call both instances sounds if you want, but technically, they are two different things. I think a tree falling in the woods makes a vibration, but not a sound.

If no one hears the recording, in my opinion there's no sound on it. There's something on it, but it only becomes sound when it enters into the brain of an animal.

 

Ah,but 'sound' is defined as vibrations that travel through the air,[other mediums are available] that are capable of being detected,not that MUST be detected.

 

This ^^^

Not This ^^^

 

If a tree falls in the forest, of course it makes a sound.
The sound it makes is the chorus to "MmmBop" by Hanson.
Which is why nobody is around to hear it.

 

We already talked about how it's defined. I said, be that as it may, vibrations that travel through the air and vibrations that travel through the air and enter into a human mind are two different things. I believe it's a valid point of contention, and definitions change all the time. If we accepted everything as it's currently defined, we'd never learn anything.

I mean, a sound that enters into the brain is a unique occurrence, so at the very least there could, hypothetically, be a word specific to it. Let's call it "frott." So a tree that falls in the woods does make a sound, but it does not make a frott.

It's kind of like if you take a cucumber and put it in a jar and make pickles.

 

The idea of sound pressure waves were the invention of man to explain the phenomena. If no one is around to observe the tree falling, hear it fall, or observe the effects the tree has on the surrounding landscape (collateral damage) - it didn’t happen


Hotwater