If a tree fell in the forest and no one was around to hear it would it make a sound?
Obviously it does make a sound. Sound exists whether you can perceive it or not. If you and a deaf person are standing by a waterfall does it make a sound? Of course it does. But not to to the deaf person. If the sound wasn't there independent of your presence then you wouldn't hear it. Also, just because there is no human in the area does not mean that there is no life at all. All manner of living things perceive sound and there is great likelihood that there is something there that will perceive that sound being made.
Well if you call sound the movement of air particles to make sound waves then yes but if you only consider something to make sound if people can hear it then no. I got that second bit from a discussion in my pshchology class though I believe more in the first one.
It depends. Do quantum physics include trees? If so, the tree is both fallen and standing at the same time, thus making both sound - and not making sound at the same time. In whch case the answer is clear.
Being that trees are on a macroscopic level then no they aren't included. Unless the tree was inside a black hole.
However, the air around us is always vibrating - yet we don't call just any vibrations "sound". When discussing this, consider whether that distinction is purely arbitrary or if there's some objective method of determining which vibrations constitute a sound. If your answer is something along the lines of what humans can hear, then the implications are obvious.
Technically we could consider these vibrations as sound, just not necessarily in the range of human hearing. Though a tree falling would most likely produce vibrations with in a humans hearing range even if no human was around to detect them.
But how can we talk about the external world without referring to perception? Is it even possible?
In this case we are referencing to past experience. We know from other encounters with falling trees they do produce sound vibrations. So it is reasonable to assume that even if no one was around to hear the sound those vibrations would still be produced. We could even test this by setting up a device sensitive to such vibrations and how it record the information (not necessarily the sound itself but the measured effect of the sound).
well if no one was around to hear the tree fall nobody would know that the tree fell
Unless of course someone came by later and saw that the tree had fallen. But we're not talking about the knowledge claims surrounding the tree's falling. I think really this issue comes down to how we define sound. I see two possible definitions:
1) Vibrations in the air such that their frequency is within the audible range of a human (or sentient or conscious being, if you prefer) with normal hearing.
2) Vibrations in the air such that their frequency is, in fact, detected by a human (or sentient or conscious being) with normal hearing.
Either way you go, the answer becomes arbitrary. (1) is essentially - would it be heard if someone was around? Clearly, then, it does make a sound. (2) asks if someone actually did hear it. Here the answer is an obvious no (unless there are woodland creatures around and you're counting those).
Sound is the perception of the sensory stimuli stimulated in the organs of hearing by such vibrations in the air or other medium. According to this definition of sound (and if the tree did not fall so hard that it could be heard worldwide) there would be no sound. There would be created a mechanical wave, but nobody would perceive it, therefore we would not have a sound.
Vibrations transmitted through an elastic solid or a liquid or gas, with frequencies in the approximate range of 20 to 20,000 hertz, capable of being detected by human organs of hearing.
This is the definition of sound. The tree obviously creates sound waves and yes, they are not detected by "human organs of hearing". However the sound is still technically capable of being heard and interpreted by the ears it just isn't. I had a little trouble putting together a solid argument for this at first, it seemed both sides put up a good defense of their beliefs. After looking at the definition it was clear to me that sound does not have to be heard to exist. An example of this that is pretty simple to understand is this. Lets imagine a machine was emitting sound waves between 20 and 20,000 hertz. There are no humans in the area close enough to hear it. Now lets pretend that it is emitting sound waves high enough to shatter glass. The glass shatters due to the frequency. No living thing heard this sound but the shattered glass is evidence that it did exist as sound. That is my two cents.
This is ridiculously complicated for absolutely nothing. It makes perfect sense to me that a sound will be produced. The real question of this thread should be; how do you perceive sound. If a sound must be heard to porperly be one, then no, assuming there's nothing in the vincinity to hear it, which is nigh impossible in a forest. If a sound is only the vibration of air, then yes, a sound is gleefully ejected by the shock of a tree upon reaching the receiving ground...And yes, the apparent stupidity of the vocabulary is intended, it adds to the fact that such a matter souldn't be so complicated.
Well, to me it sounds perfectly simple. (See I did a pun...)
Fallen, I too thought this was a comical OP question that I refused to reply to until I saw your name. It also sounds terribly simple to me. If no humans are in the area within hearing distance of said 'falling tree', then no, it won't be heard by humans. In a forest, however, animals will either hear or sense the same said tree has fallen.
It has to make a sound because if a tree fell in a forest when you were right next to it would it make a sound? Yes it would. If you were 50 miles away, it would make a sound because it would hit other trees, vibrate and generate sound waves. Case closed.
It would make a sound because the definition of sound is:Vibrations transmitted through an elastic solid or a liquid or gas, with frequencies in the approximate range of 20 to 20,000 hertz, capable of being detected by human organs of hearing. It says that sound must have the capacity to be detected by the human ear but it can still be sound if no one was around to hear it.Assuming that the vibrations produced by the falling tree can be detectes by the human ear, then yes it would make sound.
