If a tree falls

If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?*note to admin*
I don't care where you put this one.
I mean this as a legitimate question.

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

I should have also added in, whether someone is there to hear it or not.

If someone hears it, yes.Otherwise, no.Sound is a sensory interpretation of waves in the air. In order for it to be, sound as we understand it, those waves need to be interpreted.Sort of like a CD. It's on your desk, it isn't music. Put it in the player, the laser INTERPRETS the little microscopic bumps, and produces sound. Same thing with your ear drum.

Can that be proven? No, of course not. Science does not deal with proof.But it can be said with certainty that it does make a sound.Tests can be run. The hypothesis is that when a tree falls it makes a sound.Run the test X number of times and record results.Other scientists can replicate the tests. They do and sure enough, a falling tree makes a sound.Soon you have a body of evidence that falling trees make sounds.As always, Science holds it's conclusions tentatively. So if someone can prove that a tree can fall without making a sound, and that finding can be independantly confirmed, then it's back to the drawing board.It's the heart of the Scientific Method.A more dificult question, and one for you to ponder is: If a man speaks in the woods, and no one hears him, is he still wrong?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

quote:

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If a man speaks in the woods, and no one hears him, is he still wrong?

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So totally!

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There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. -Edith Wharton

Close your eyes, and imagine a song. Can you hear it?

This assumes he is wrong in the first place.
Lets stick to the tree first.

No. I can imagine it. Imagination takes place in the frontal lobes and involves recollection. No actuall hearing is involved.To hear something, it must first pass thrugh the eardrum, auditory nerve, and be processed in the auditory lobe of our brain.This message has been edited by Yaro, 12-29-2005 10:26 AM

There is only a sound if there is something to hear it.
Otherwise it is merely a disturbance of air forming waves which affect the surroundings as a pressure differential. If there is no receiver to record or interpret the air wave disturbance as sound data, then all is quiet in the forest."In space, nobody can hear you scream." Alien 1979

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"One is punished most for ones virtues" Fredrick Neitzche

But is it music? And is the music real? Does music require sound? If a score is written then to one who reads music it is imagined....but to one who does not it is so many ink blots.
And if someone who has never heard a note, can they ever know what sound is?

AHHHH!... Stop it!

If a tree falls in a forest, and somebody (but not you) claims to have seen and heard it, did it make a sound?

I once was thinking that way, but I have changed my mind about that thought for a couple of reasons.1. Frequencies above about 20,000hz cannot be heard by the human ear, but it is still sound. I am sure there are frequencies that no creature can hear, but it would still be sound. It is sound because it travels at the speed of sound and has frequency, wavelength, amplitude, and velocity.
2. The speed of sound in our atmosphere varys on pressure, but there is always a sound barrier present. That barrier cannot be heard, but describes the speed of which SOUND travels. How can it be sound if no-one is hearing it? How can the barrier exist then?
3. Radio waves exist wether we "hear" them or not. Nobody can hear you scream, but there is sound. Anytime to objects collide or vibrate, there is sound.This message has been edited by riVeRraT, 12-29-2005 07:10 PM

This question has nothing to do with the OP It is only a question to determine if I understand science as we know it.Having said that, I would say yes, and no. Until we find a better answer.