If a tree falls in a forest, and no one or nothing

[Chuck]

I say yes... Just with science.. yeah.

[Nocando]

Well, the only way to see if it does is to set up a cassete recorded by some tree, leave the forest for a while, and if a tree falls without smashing the recorder while you're gone, you can check if it does make a sound or not

[gman]

Asitro said:

Well, the only way to see if it does is to set up a cassete recorded by some tree, leave the forest for a while, and if a tree falls without smashing the recorder while you're gone, you can check if it does make a sound or not

that would mean something is there meaning the question is void
Nothing can be there.

[:O]

Of course it would.. You would not hear it, of course, but yes it would make a sound. Everything makes a sound o.o Go drop a book, throw a pencil against a wall, whatever, it will make a sound o.o

Let's say you have a book on the edge of your shelf and it falls when you're next to it. Itll make a sound. Now let's say you put it back up there, and while you're gone, it falls. It will still make the sound it made before. You just wont be there to experience it

[Renegade]

:O said:

Of course it would.. You would not hear it, of course, but yes it would make a sound. Everything makes a sound o.o Go drop a book, throw a pencil against a wall, whatever, it will make a sound o.o

Let's say you have a book on the edge of your shelf and it falls when you're next to it. Itll make a sound. Now let's say you put it back up there, and while you're gone, it falls. It will still make the sound it made before. You just wont be there to experience it

Yet the sound is caused by the movements of displacement ait molecules against your eardrum. If you aren't there, and nothing else is there to hear in a similar way (this includes cassette recorders etc) then whio is to say it can still make a sound?

[FreeWill]

The definition of sound is:

Mechanical vibrations transmitted by an elastic medium.

If this definition of sound is true, then trees still make a noise when they fall and nobody is there to hear them

The example given to the definition:

falling trees make a sound in the forest even when no one is there to hear them

(how fitting)

Source of definiton: www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?stage=1&word=sound

[Renegade]

FreeWill said:

If this definition of sound is true, then trees still make a noise when they fall and nobody is there to hear them

What if it falls really really quietly? ;d

[FreeWill]

Then it'll make a really quiet sound, but there'll still be one - the air molecules will still vibrate.

[Renegade]

FreeWill said:

Then it'll make a really quiet sound, but there'll still be one - the air molecules will still vibrate.

Ok, so how about if someone came along and vacummed it all up really quickly? There's no sound in a vacuum! ;D

[FreeWill]

What would happen if someone was grabbing onto the tree, with their ear pressed against the tree in the vacuum? The sound wouldn't need to travel through the vacuum to be heard!

[Renegade]

FreeWill said:

What would happen if someone was grabbing onto the tree, with their ear pressed against the tree in the vacuum? The sound wouldn't need to travel through the vacuum to be heard!

Well then there'd be someone to hear it, so I declare that off-topic and irrelevant ;D

[Nocando]

And I declare that it's really hard to agree on a topic like this

[i|i]

Interesting read.

I say it makes a sound but I'm too lazy to support my opinion right now.

[LazyBoy]

it would make a sound, either that or it would burn the forest down...

When the tree falls it loses a significant amount of energy. Because energy can neither be created or destroyed, this energy lost must be converted into kinetic energy, heat energy or sound. Although the tree moves, the amount of kinetic energy used is less that the amount of potential energy lost. Thus, the remaining energy is converted to heat energy, effectively starting a forest fire, or into sound energy. Because trees do fall and yet no fires occur, it must follow that the tree makes a sound.

Makes sense to me anyway...

[Shady]

I'm gonna go with yes. If there was a person there, they were hear the sound. Even if there isn't someone to hear it, the sound would still be there.