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The Falling Tree Theory

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Quenched | 19:57 Tue 14th Jan 2025 | ChatterBank
7 Answers

Personally I don't believe this theory, that if a falling tree in the middle of a forest, and hundreds of miles from human life, the sound of the cracking wood and it falling doesn't create any sound as there wasn't any ears to hear it. 

 

Not even sure where this theory came from, but does the same idea apply if someone leaves a radio or tv on in a completely empty property, does it omit sound if no one is there to hear it?

 

And no I'm not on drugs, it's just that it was on some science channel earlier. 

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There is sound but nothing to detect it. End of.

Sound is what we call the vibration of the medium in which our ears detect it.

The sound waves are there when the tree falls.

In the empty house if the radio was playing at a loud enough volumn the windows might rattle.

You've posed a hard question.

A falling tree creates waves which travel through the air. They need to meet some sort of 'conversion' equipment before they can be converted into 'sounds'.

This particular piece of equipment is the human ear.

Or a nearby rabbit.

The question only made sense to me when I realised different people had different ideas as to what sound is.

 

IMO sound waves are called sound waves for a reason. They are WAVES of SOUND.

 

Consequently what a creature hears is it's interpretation of experiencing sound, not sound itself. Sound is the vibration.

do you really mean omit?

Science works by direct observation, so if no one is there to hear a falling tree, how can we be 100% sure it made any sound

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