If a tree falls in the middle of the forest with nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound?

lanfranco

This is not quite the deep, philosophical question that people think it is. Here's one way it's been handled (sound effects included): http://www.getodd.com/stuf/treefall.html Jun 18 05, 5:00 PM

barker111

It's how you define sound: The sensation perceived by the sense of hearing. - Then 'No' because no ear is present (except those of animals', but that creates a more complicated question) to percieve the 'sound' sensation. Mechanical radiant energy that is transmitted by longitudinal pressure waves in a meterial medium (as air) and is the objective cause of hearing. - Then 'Yes' because regardless of what is around at the time, the falling tree is still creating 'mechanical radiant energy' that becomes sound waves. Jun 18 05, 9:32 PM

MonkeyOnALeash

Sound is not sound until it hits a "receiving device" such as a ear. The "feeling" part of this is not sound, but a concussive wave pattern, so if the plants and other non-auditory creatures feel this wave, they are not "hearing" and therefore no sound has been created, only a concussive/percussive shock wave. "Sound is generally known as vibrational transmission of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a wave (through fluids as a compression wave, and through solids as both compression and shear waves) that is audibly perceived by a living organism through its sense of hearing." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound It is not technically "sound" but a wave until a tympanic membrane is vibrated and the wave form is converted into a rhythmic or decipherable signal. This is still very arguable. It depends upon what school of thought one ascribes to! Nov 22 07, 10:21 PM