There's a question that many people have debated and pondered for many years. I'm not sure where it originated from, but it doesn't really matter. The question is this:
"If a tree falls in the woods, and there's no-one there to hear it, does it still make a sound?"
(or some variation of that but you get the point...)
I was sitting on the grass with a friend the other day, making a tree out of a fallen twig and some leaves off a random grass plant, when we started wondering on this subject. With her knowledge of the ear functions, and my knowledge of the nature of sound, we came to the conclusion that no, it wouldn't make a sound.
You see, sound travels in waves. Waves of vibrating molecules through a medium (such as air or water or solids such as walls or objects). It also refracts and reflects, but that's irrelevant. What IS relevant is how we interpret these vibrations into audible sounds. We do this through out ears. They pick up the vibrations in the medium, in most cases air, and our brain interprets them into words, noises and sounds.
Now, in the woods, when theres no one there, and theres no recording devices around, the fallen tree would most definitely make the vibrations of sound waves. BUT, since there is nothing to interpret these waves into plausible noise, there is no sound.
One way of trying to understand this concept (because almost everyone Ive tried to explain it to has had trouble) think about two people, one deaf, one able to hear. If you stood them next to each other and clanged something together in front of them, then obviously the deaf person would not hear the noise created, but the other person would. This is because the deaf person's ears or brain or something along the communication line between the two, is not able to pick up and interperate the vibrations made by the clanging objects. BUT the other person IS able to interpret the vibrations into noise. This proves that the vibrations are definitely there, but us humans need the ears and the brain to interpret them. Therefore, a tree falling in the woods would make the vibrations, but without something to catch and interpret the vibrations, it would not make a sound.
The annoying thing about this theory is, it cannot be tested... but thanks to physics it can be explained.
I like philosophical theories =)
3 comments:
the question i got with this one was if a tree fell in a forest and no-one saw or heard it, did it still fall and the conclusion i came to (quite quickly, i might add) was of course it did - just because someone didn't see it or hear it doesn't mean it didn't happen
ie in your case, just because someone didn't hear it doesn't mean it didn't actually make a noise. it just means it's not in that person's sphere of knowledge, like so many other things in the world lol
I agree with Ruby, and also, animals and other living things that detect sound would be in that forest. Anyhow, its a philosophical question to prompt humans to realise and accept their own insignificance; in the face of earth and mother nature, so you totally missed the point of the question.
I still think your missing the physics of it. True, i didnt take into consideration animals, so for the sake of the arguement, lets say there arnt any there.
I know the origional purpose of the question jess, i never said i didnt. But i like physics. And this was the perfect opertunity to apply that for leisure. Thats all.
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