A tree falls in the woods......

And there's noone to hear it. Does it make a sound?

Nope, it makes vibrations but with nothing to turn it into sound there is no sound.

Sorry the chicken topic got me thinking.

Of course it makes a sound, and there are thousands of forest creatures there to hear it.

But why would sound be defined as any more than the transmission of wave vibrations? Why does there need to be an aural recipient of these? The sound exists whether there are ears near it or not.

This has been adapted to the modern day case:

"If a man opens his mouth and there is no woman there to hear what comes out, is he still wrong?"



[edit on 21-2-2005 by MaskedAvatar]

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
This has been adapted to the modern day case:

"If a man opens his mouth and there is no woman there to hear what comes out, is he still wrong?"

In my experience, the answer is no. You are right until a woman actually hears you, then and only then are you wrong.

lol to last post i think the statment is talking about reality if you dont hear it then for all you know it never happened or exsisted its all about perception

klain, your right but if you look at it from a purely scientific point of view you can find clear answers. Sure it's overlooking the whole point of the statement but it's still a valid answer.

maskedavatar, firstly if there are animal creatures then it does make a sound. However if there is "noone" (including animals, microphones etc.) there is no sound just movement in the air.

Does a CD make the sound of music if there is no CD player to play it?

ok thought of plants? then like music it helps them grow better does'nt it heh so would'nt this have an effect on the foliage

hehehe, good point!

Although, I'd say it's the vibrations effecting the plant as I doubt they can hear. Then again I read a book called "the secret life of plants" which showed that plants can do some amazing things.

One of the experiments in the book included 4 pot plants and 4 people in a room.
1 of the 4 people went in to the room and "murdered" one of the plants and then each of the people went into the rooms by themselves. The plants had a vastly different reaction to the murderer than the other people.

Hmmmm, I can see my point slowly drifting away. I still stand by it tho.

Ofcourse it makes a sound.
I know this cuz a screaming squirrel ran super fast into my window and his last words were "tree...go...boom"

A tree falls in the woods......


A tree falls_______ Then yes, it makes a noise, only if nobody is there to hear it, then the only ones who do hear it are the animals.

Hi nice to meet you...I am new and hope to make many friends.

Originally posted by Krahzeef

Does a CD make the sound of music if there is no CD player to play it?

It is neither the CD nor the CD player that creates the sound, it is the vibration of the amplified signals through the speaker cones.

There is much confusing of medium with message with receiver.

If a deaf person cannot hear an orchestra, there is still sound.

the fact that there would never be anything to hear a tree fall down is true

but I must add this (and sorry for using your examples Rei)

Reikuro was in CT durring a big storm, many trees in her backyard fell down, but NO one heard them

so ....ya...who knows

OK first up, animals count as someone to hear sound!

The CD analogy was a failed attempt to show that without something to convert it it's just plastic.

Sound cannot exist as we define sound without someone or something to convert vibrations into sound.

Originally posted by Shai_lene
A tree falls in the woods......


A tree falls_______ Then yes, it makes a noise, only if nobody is there to hear it, then the only ones who do hear it are the animals.

Hi nice to meet you...I am new and hope to make many friends.

nice 1 we hav'nt wasted much time in posting have we just look at your points heh