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ORIGINAL: BitaTruble

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ORIGINAL: brightspot

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ORIGINAL: BitaTruble

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ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

if a tree falls in a forest; and no one hears it- did it make a sound???

A soundwave is nothing more than air molecules bumping into one another and causing a wave similar to the way you create ripples in water by dropping a rock into it. That's called compression and rarefaction. In order to 'hear' the sound that wave will produce you have to have a transducer, such as an ear. Without a transducer, you can't convert the mechanical energy of the air molecules into sound. So, to answer the question, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound .. the answer is no, it does not.  Nothing to do with philosophy though. This is straight up physics.

Celeste

edited for typo

If animals are there it does make a sound and they would be scurrying out of the way, human ears aren't the only ears that could be around, to say  if no one is there, meaning human does not make it true.
You would maybe have to say "If no living creature with hearing are not there".
 
Missy.

Wise ass. ::smirks::

Celeste