Get ready, mind = blown. If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around...

does it make a sound?

The definitive answer is NO.

Technically, sound does not exist. All sound is is sensory receptors in your ear that perceive vibrations in the air surrounding us that our brain perceives as sound. Therefore, sound only exists if there is indeed some organism that can take that stimulus and turn it into a thought process that recognizes it as sound.

So if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, all that happens is vibrations run through the air. No sound actually emanates.

Is your mind blown or what?

*Puts on tin foil hat* I want to believe. :O

The definition of "sound" as the disturbances in the air molecules themselves rather than the brain impulses created when those disturbances strike one's eardrum is no less valid. This supposedly philosophically deep question is really just a question of how one defines the word in question, which makes it really a rather pointless one as there is no objective metric by which the correctness of a definition may be measured (aside, perhaps, from asking whether the definition is one that is accepted by a majority of the population).

I was actually talking about this the other day. I didn't think there'd be any sound either, considering you'd need something to receive the vibrations in order to recognise sound. But isn't everything silent anyway, considering that it's just that our ears converting vibrations into sound? The vibrations themselves don't make any sound, right?

does it make a sound?

The definitive answer is NO.

Technically, sound does not exist. All sound is is sensory receptors in your ear that perceive vibrations in the air surrounding us that our brain perceives as sound. Therefore, sound only exists if there is indeed some organism that can take that stimulus and turn it into a thought process that recognizes it as sound.

So if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, all that happens is vibrations run through the air. No sound actually emanates.

Is your mind blown or what?

agentpheonix

http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/phy03.sci.phys.howmove.lp_sound - vibrations = sound

http://insects.about.com/od/morphology/f/hearing.htm - bugs can hear

The definition of "sound" as the disturbances in the air molecules themselves rather than the brain impulses created when those disturbances strike one's eardrum is no less valid. This supposedly philosophically deep question is really just a question of how one defines the word in question, which makes it really a rather pointless one as there is no objective metric by which the correctness of a definition may be measured (aside, perhaps, from asking whether the definition is one that is accepted by a majority of the population).

GabuEx

Dang, killjoy. Just enjoy the rare philosophical topic on OT for once...

It depends solely upon how "sound" is defined. That is all. Teenager's existential crisis has been averted.

*pulls out lawnchair*
interesting

[QUOTE="GabuEx"]

The definition of "sound" as the disturbances in the air molecules themselves rather than the brain impulses created when those disturbances strike one's eardrum is no less valid. This supposedly philosophically deep question is really just a question of how one defines the word in question, which makes it really a rather pointless one as there is no objective metric by which the correctness of a definition may be measured (aside, perhaps, from asking whether the definition is one that is accepted by a majority of the population).

agentpheonix

Dang, killjoy. Just enjoy the rare philosophical topic on OT for once...

Hey, I enjoy philosophy as much as anyone else; it's just that this particular question is not really as interesting as people give it credit for. :P

It does make a sound, it's just nobody hears it.

Sound is not just sensory. If that were true then dog whistles don't make a sound either. Sound is a mechanical vibration through a media that occurs whether you hear it or not. The only place sound doesn't exist is space because there are no particles to transfer vibration.

If a tree falls in the woods, and a deaf person is around, does it make a sound? :P

My mind isn't blown... I already learned that in my Acoustics & Psychoacoustics class.

If a tree falls in the woods, and a deaf person is around, does it make a sound? :P

The-Tree

I saw some TF2 video on the internet of some guy explaining this. It was quite funny to be honest.

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it, then my illegal logging business is a success.DreamnDayUnite

But I thought those vibrations traveling through the air would be considered sound, even if no one was there to hear it.PernicioEnigma

It isn't sound unless someone perceives it.

I wonder if the woodland creatures heard it.

It does make a sound: "KABOOSHHHHH CRASHHHH CHHRRRHRHRHRHRH "ahhhhhhhh! help me!" VRROOMMM"

But seriously, yeah, mind semi-blown.

This is already been answered in the awesomest way possible.

I never liked philosophy, so the sound exists. It's made by the impact. Unless the tree is in space, but that's floating.

... and we call this process sound.

You are wrong because it doesmake a sound.:roll:

My mind = blown.... although if no one was around to hear it did it actually blow?