If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

[Galletea]

There's always something around to hear it, if there isn't then the last thing you should be worrying about is if it makes a sound.

 

[orangebandguy]

Yes, it makes a sound. That much is obvious. No one has to hear it for there to be a sound since air particles still vibrate.

 

[Raven's Nest]

Fuck this. If a meteorite slams into Titan where, by defenition, no-one is around to hear it, does it make sound?

Spoiler

OF COURSE IT FUCKING DOES.

Actually since sound doesn't travel in a vacuum, no it wouldn't.

I heard the Shoemaker-Levy comet strike Jupiter a few years ago... It's an equivalent distance. Sound isn't audible in a vacuum but the vibrations can still travel I think...

 

[Keepitclean]

Fuck this. If a meteorite slams into Titan where, by defenition, no-one is around to hear it, does it make sound?

Spoiler

OF COURSE IT FUCKING DOES.

Actually since sound doesn't travel in a vacuum, no it wouldn't.

Haha, owned, just what I was thinking.

In space, nobody can hear you scream...

If there were Aliens on there, they'd hear it.

What if they were deaf aliens? Or aliens that didnt have a hearing sense at all?

 

[ProfessorLayton]

It is a sound even though it isn't interpreted by anyone's brain as such. The sound is still there no matter if you hear it or not.

 

[rokkolpo]

Search bar approved, last topic was half a year ago.

What is sound? The interpretation of vibrations in a medium by the ear. When I hit my hand on a table, it creates vibrations in the table and air. The vibrations in the air travel and reach my ear, where it is interpreted by the brain as sound. Thus, if the vibrations aren't interpreted as sound, then it doesn't make a sound, right? Just vibrations, right?

we call it sound once it reaches our ears.

that doesn't mean it isn't sound if we don't hear it.

 

[Sentient6]

Wrong. Sound IS the vibration of particles (mind you ANY particles, not just air) that moves in waves away from the whatever caused the sound. So even if there's no one to hear the tree falling, it still produces the said vibrations, meaning it does make a sound. Doesn't matter if anyone hears it or not.

Thats a bit wrong, just because particles are moving doesn't mean it's making any sound, if you hold a metal bar at one end and the other over a fire over after a certain amount of time you will burn your hand because the particles are vibrating faster than they are when there cold, it doesn't make a sound though. Sorry for nit picking.

On topic: To put it another way if your nan falls over and breaks her hip but no bodies around to hear it does she make a noise? Yes but no body calls for an ambulance.

Not exactly. I said "in a wave" - and sound is that moving wave of particles. But that's me nitpicking now, so lets just agree that the tree does make a sound.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

If someone makes a thread that noone notices, does he make a thread?
Noone sees it, so it won't actually exist, right?
Wrong.

 

[orangeapples]

Yes there is a sound, and yes it will reach you, no matter where you are. Now the amplitude of the sound may have been greatly diminished to the point that you do not perceive it, but that wave is still hitting your ear.

What is the sound of one handed clapping?

the same as the sound of me slapping you across the face for asking such a dumb overused question.

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Why is this concept so hard to grasp?. It's not rocket science..

Yes, it makes a sound. You just aren't there to hear it.

 

[Emperor Inferno]

Sound is vibrations, plain and simple. It exists whether it is picked up by an ear or not. Just because you can't hear the sound of my keyboard clicking as I'm typing on it, doesn't mean it's not generating sound. Sound is about physics, not interpretation by the senses.

 

[KrakFoxx]

but it means IS there a sound if you dont hear it? and how do you know its there if you cant hear it?

 

[Biek]

No, the question is, if it falls over, do the other trees laugh at it?

Now that would be a challenge to prove. Im tempted to assume they do untill proven othewise.

 

[Scikosomatic]

sound IS the vibration.

 

[RollForInitiative]

The real question is: if a tree falls on a mime in the forest, and nobody is around to hear him, does he make a sound?

 

[Woodsey]

Yes, of course it does.

If a lamp's on and nobody see's it is it really on?

If I take a crap but I didn't realise and nobody else knew either does that mean I never took a shit?

If the telly's on and nobody's watching is it on?

And so on and so forth.

[small]Note that these are sarcastic questions.[/small]

EDIT: Besides, your point about vibrations being interpreted by the brain as sound is wrong (if that's what you said).

If I record a sound when I'm not there, the machine records the sound from the vibrations. It doesn't note the vibrations and then vibrate accordingly, so my brain can later interpret.

 

[AdamG3691]

Y-yes? I mean how can it not make a sound? Living beings do not bring the laws of nature with them wherever they go!

according to quantum mechanics, the act of observing a phenomena changes it.
if it is unobserved then it must be doing both simultaneously, so not only is it loud and silent, it is also still standing and collapsed at the same time, until somebody or something observes it, at which point it is EITHER standing OR collapsed.

therefore, as nobody is around, it is both making a noise, and perfectly silent, whilst collapsed AND standing.

IS YOUR MIND BLOWN YET?

Edit:

Now get into that box with a bottle of poison and a radioisotope that has a 50% chace of decaying you stupid cat!

 

[Lullabye]

Y-yes? I mean how can it not make a sound? Living beings do not bring the laws of nature with them wherever they go!

according to quantum mechanics, the act of observing a phenomena changes it.
if it is unobserved then it must be doing both simultaneously, so not only is it loud and silent, it is also still standing and collapsed at the same time, until somebody or something observes it, at which point it is EITHER standing OR collapsed.

therefore, as nobody is around, it is both making a noise, and perfectly silent, whilst collapsed AND standing.

IS YOUR MIND BLOWN YET?

so its like the "i think therfore I am" philosphy, but changed to "I observe, therfore it is".....umm, I'm pretty sure thats complete crap.

Yes it makes "sound", and various other forms of energy as well

 

[AdamG3691]

Y-yes? I mean how can it not make a sound? Living beings do not bring the laws of nature with them wherever they go!

according to quantum mechanics, the act of observing a phenomena changes it.
if it is unobserved then it must be doing both simultaneously, so not only is it loud and silent, it is also still standing and collapsed at the same time, until somebody or something observes it, at which point it is EITHER standing OR collapsed.

therefore, as nobody is around, it is both making a noise, and perfectly silent, whilst collapsed AND standing.

IS YOUR MIND BLOWN YET?

so its like the "i think therfore I am" philosphy, but changed to "I observe, therfore it is".....umm, I'm pretty sure thats complete crap.

Yes it makes "sound", and various other forms of energy as well

its true

it is the basis of wave particle duality

a stream of electrons are passed through a slit- it makes one line on a background
a beam of light is passed through the same slit- same thing happens
the beam of light is passed through 2 slits- it creates an interference pattern when the waves hit each other and cancel out (it looks like | | | |)
the stream of electrons from before are passed through the 2 slitted thingy- because electrons are particles you would expect it to make 2 lines on a background, right? wrong, it creates an interference pattern.

if you then decide to only fire 1 electron at a time, it still makes an interference pattern, this is because it is going through BOTH slits at the same time.
when some scientists decided to see WHICH slit the electrons were going through, (they put a detector next to one slit), the electrons just made 2 lines, when they removed the detector, it went back to the interference pattern, the act of observing the electrons fixed their positions in space.

want more proof, look up Schrödinger's cat

 

[Flamezdudes]

Ofcourse it makes a fucking sound.