If a tree falls in the forest and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound?
597161
Great philosophical question! \n\nI tend to think of it like this:\nIf a person's life is only affected by his or her actions and the actions of people and occurences that are directly relevant to that person's life then the "tree" doesn't make a sound. \nBut then we've all heard of the "Butterfly effect"; in which case the "tree" would sound like an explosion occuring next to you.......
888384
Is that I typo because I thought the question is usually phrased "If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one around, will it make a noise?"  (or something like that) That question is asking if sound can exist without anyone being there to hear it.\n\nYour questin however answers itself.  If there is no one around then it will not be heard.
1125237
this question is actually answered in my biology book..here is what it says:\n\n"perceptions, such as colors, smells, sounds and tastes, are constructions of the brain and do not exist outside it. so, if a tree falls and no one is present to hear it, is there a sound? the fall certainly produces pressure waves in the air, but if sound is defined as a perception, then there is none unless sensory receptors detect the waves and an animals brain perceives them"
438981
If a man stands in the middle of the forest speaking and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
957848
Of course it does. If you put a tape recorder in an empty area and waited until a tree fell, you'd have a recorded sound of a tree falling. \n\nJust because your ears didn't hear it, it doesn't mean it didn't make a sound.
9323
Sound is actually just vibrations in atoms and molecules. Our ears are able to decipher these vibrations into sound, if the vibrations are strong and close enough. The laws of the earth are forever constant, so if a tree falls, whether someone is close enough or not, it will cause vibrations in the air and on ground nonetheless. Animals will hear it. There is no sound in space
1126178
Of course it would. There would just be no one around to HEAR it. That doesn't mean it wouldn't make NOISE! Gah, I hate when people ask this question! (No offense!)
1056075
it does make sound!!!!........ how stupid iz that \nWt a question >>>>> so weird !!!
79096
No!Because you can not tell . how if there would be nobody nobody could near the noise!
124261
No. And here's why: \n\nThe falling rock will create the compressions and rarefactions of air that are the external stimulus for the auditory receptors. \n\nSound, however, is more than just those compressions and rarefactions; for there to be a perception of sound there must be an organism to hear it. \n\nThis organism, in order to be able to hear a sound, must have a functioning auditory system that receives the external stimulus capable of transducing the stimulus from physical into electrical energy and have the proper neurotransmitters that will turn that electrical energy into chemical energy able to stimulate neurons. It must have uninjured neurons in the proper places that will receive that chemical energy and transform it back into electrical energy and back to chemical energy using the proper neurotransmitters to stimulate the next neurons in the chain. The organism must have all these neurons going to the proper areas of the brain that will receive the energy and impute meaning onto it from prior experience. This prior experience is why we (as verbal humans) label as sound the sensations coming from the compressions and rarefactions that hit our ears and go up the chain. Other organisms will not label the sensation as sound, but will behave in other appropriate manners indicating that they heard the sound.\n\nSo without an organism, there can therefore be no sound.
564702
Put it on yourself! If you fall and there is no one see's you, does make a sound? Then how do we know?
1085273
I think you're missing the point of the question, which is how we can know something for sure without having sensed it. (which sort of evolved later into the question of how we can know something for sure, even if we do sense it).\nanyways, vis a vis the way you posited the question, it depends on what you mean by "sound". If you consider a soundwave a sound then yes, it makes a sound; if you consider sound only that which we hear, then no, it didn't make a sound. \n\nin other words, it appears your question is really: "If a tree falls in a forest and noone hears the sound it made, did it make a sound?" vs. "If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, did anyone hear it?"
42894
The point of the riddle is that perception controls reality, because nothing is assured until we perceive it. It should be modified to say, "If a tree falls in the forest and there are no people or recording devices present, can you have any clue as to the sound it made?" It is an answerless riddle by definition.
889900
Halfway - then your walking out !\n\nThen you pass the trees that have fallen over but didn't make a noise because there was nobody there to hear them !
632971
No, but it probably feels vibrations, which is kinda like hearing.  Snakes don't have ears, but they "hear" vibrations.
11380
It certainly makes sound. But, there is nobody to notice his sound. Sound is also a kind of energy. Whether someone noticed or not, it can not be destroyed.
1092395
it is LOUD, and even if your house isn't damaged, everything is vibrating.\n\n\nIt sounds a lot like a train going by right outside your window.\n\nAnd afterward, there are tree limbs and odd things lying everywhere.