If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound? Saw this on yahoo. What do you guys think? I say the tree doesn’t make a sound. :shrug:
Digital age rewording of "If a tree falls" posit: If a post is posted, but never opened to verify the posting button sent the post. Did the post post? Alternative Scientific Answer: If a cat's in a box and the box is never opened, is there really a cat in the box? Artist rewording of "If a tree falls" posit: "A rose is still a rose by any other name" Billy Wigglestaff. Sci Fi rewording of "If a tree falls" posit: It's life Jim, but not as we know it... If religion and science had a baby together, would that baby be called Scientology? Let's never allow those two in the same room, alone again.
yes because in order for sound to even exist in the first place means that two objects must compress air between them , hence produce a wave in that air , regardless whether someone or something is there to preceive this wave then your wrong
You guys missed the underlining point of the riddle. ‘the tree falling’ simply means ‘can something exist without being perceived’ ( George Berkeley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley ) For more info on the riddle here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_a_tree_falls_in_a_forest "It depends. Everything that vibrates the air creates the potential for sound, regardless of what conscious being is there to perceive it in the first place. If there is nobody is there to perceive it occurring, then it could not exist as sound, only vibration. Sound is a subjective interaction with matter. All that sound is, is vibrations through a medium, without humans to perceive it, those vibrations that we call sound, when the tree fell, would make vibrations, but "sound" as we know it, couldn't exist, since no conscious being was there to interpret those vibrations. But How do we know said tree fell if no one was around to witness it, or even hear it? This is a question for evidence". http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090515000045AApHD7n
given we can't trust our perception to depict reality 100% accurately, what's it matter? i think anyone beyond the concrete operational stage should be able to answer this.
Well, here's a tree falling and we aren't there but there are others there to record the sound it makes when it falls. This proves that a tree does make a sound when it falls without me being there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCIp4M7Flpo
this is like.. .so yesterday. where have you been??! and yes, it makes a sound. its not because you don't hear it that its not there. thats like saying, if a person who can't hear screams in the woods, is he making a sound...
this question comes up every so often. when the tree falls it creates the sound waves, but unless a decoder is present (you) the sound will never be heard.
actually no it doesnt make a sound, a sound is noise which has been interprited by someones ears. it would produce a wave of vibrating are particals which if there was an ear to hear would be CALLED a sound but its not a sound anymore than colours exist
this leads us to a question of the definition of sound. is sound purely a human construct ? or... is sound a name for the vibrational waves sent off from objects ? sonar is another relative term.
nither, sound is the term for the intrrpration of vibrations of air particals on the small hairs in the inner ear. hearing is the act of interpritation of the air particals. i can prove this BTW, if a blast wave vibrating at 1billion HZ passes you you would hear nothing there for would say it made no sound unless you tapped it and slowed it right down so you could hear it. there for its only sound when its in the range you can recive
soo i guess we can pretty much conclude that sound is not only just a name for a process of auditory function but... could well be purely perceptive in its outward definition i.e. "that sound you made" ! "i made no sound i was singing" "well yes! that sound!" "it is not a sound! it is singing!" would we not be at an impasse ?
sound –noun 2. mechanical vibrations transmitted through an elastic medium, traveling in air at a speed of approximately 1087 ft. (331 m) per second at sea level. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sound
At its simplest, you're saying that if 'something' 'happens', and no one else is there to witness it, did it actually happen? Well, the answer is yes, because because its already stated in the question i.e the tree fell, did it make a sound? Yes, because the tree fell, so it must have made a sound regardless of whether someone witnessed it or not; the fact is that the tree fell.
