# if a tree falls **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170 **Category:** Factual Questions **Created:** [August 8, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170 "2005-08-08T20:13:06Z") **Posts on this page:** 20 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![faintingfallingtakenaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@faintingfallingtakenaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/faintingfallingtakenaway) #### Post date: [August 8, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/1 "2005-08-08T20:13:06Z")
[font=comic sans ms]xxx[/FONT] OK so if a tree falls inside a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound???[color=pink]xxx[/COLOR] šŸ˜• **xxx** ---
### Author: ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster) #### Post date: [August 8, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/2 "2005-08-08T20:16:52Z")
Sound exists in your head. It vibrates the medium - the air. Lacking any ear/brain in the vicinity, there is no ā€˜soundā€™. ---
### Author: ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T) #### Post date: [August 8, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/3 "2005-08-08T20:20:51Z")
Define ā€œsound.ā€ That which is heard (probably technically correct, and in line with **Philsterā€™s** response) ā€“ no. That which can be heard ā€“ yes. ---
### Author: ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya) #### Post date: [August 8, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/4 "2005-08-08T20:46:11Z")
If youā€™re into quantum theoy I guess you ould approach this by saying, if nobody is around to witness the tree falling, it doesnā€™t fall because it doesnā€™t exist as such. ---
### Author: ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL) #### Post date: [August 8, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/5 "2005-08-08T21:01:58Z")
I thought the originsl question was: If a tree falls, does a bear shit in the woods? šŸ˜•šŸ˜•šŸ˜• ---
### Author: ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink) #### Post date: [August 8, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/6 "2005-08-08T21:20:48Z")
The Perfect Master Knows All: [If a tree falls in the woods, is there a sound?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_236.html) ---
### Author: ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson) #### Post date: [August 8, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/7 "2005-08-08T21:34:06Z")
This isnā€™t a great philosophical question. Itā€™s just a definition question. If ā€œsoundā€ is what someone hears, the answer is no. If ā€œsoundā€ is pressure waves in the audible spectrum, the answer is yes. ---
### Author: ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/8 "2005-08-09T05:13:39Z")
I saw a show where they had a sound gun. The thing would start a brick wall vibrating until it collapsed. I take this as evidence that sound is objective in the same way that light is objective. ---
### Author: ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/9 "2005-08-09T08:41:22Z")
Could God make one hand so big that even he wouldnā€™t hear it clapping, in a forest, when thereā€™s nobody around? ---
### Author: ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/10 "2005-08-09T09:36:21Z")
There is nothing to _stop_ vibrations of the tree being transferred to the surrounding air and propagating as longitudinal waves. These longitudinal pressure waves are capable of being transduced by a small apparatus called a cochlea into an electrochemical signal which itself propagates up the auditory nerve via the thalamus to the auditory cortex in the thalamus. The question is equivalent to ā€œIf thereā€™s no cameras or eyes around, does the tree still reflect light?ā€ (And the quantum interpretation is _statistically irrelevant_ for macroscopic objects: the probability of them being obseved at even an atomā€™s breadth away from their previous position is such that observing it for the entire age of the universe will offer not even a trillion to one odds. The treeā€™s classical, certain existence without observation becomes [equivalent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correspondence_principle).) ---
### Author: ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/11 "2005-08-09T09:37:42Z")
ā€œā€¦to the auditory cortex in the _temporal lobe_ā€, sorry. ---
### Author: ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/12 "2005-08-09T12:13:55Z")
There was a young man who said ā€œGod Must find it exceedingly odd If he sees that the tree Should cease to be When thereā€™s no-one around in the Quad.ā€ ---
### Author: ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/13 "2005-08-09T12:36:04Z")
Dear Sir: Your astonishmentā€™s odd: I am always about in the Quad. And thatā€™s why this tree Will continue to be, Since observed by Yours faithfully, GOD. ---
### Author: ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/14 "2005-08-09T14:27:08Z")
A friend of mine likes to say, ā€œIf a man says something in the forest, and his wife isnā€™t there to hear him, would he still be wrong?ā€ šŸ™‚ ---
### Author: ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/15 "2005-08-09T14:35:27Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > A friend of mine likes to say, ā€œIf a man says something in the forest, and his wife isnā€™t there to hear him, would he still be wrong?ā€ šŸ™‚ Youā€™re friend is George Carlin? šŸ˜‰ ---
### Author: ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/16 "2005-08-09T14:36:30Z")
_Your_, dammit, _your!_. Teach me to post pre-coffee. :smack: ---
### Author: ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/17 "2005-08-09T14:53:57Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Youā€™re friend is George Carlin? šŸ˜‰ Ah, so thatā€™s where he got it from! (I didnā€™t say he made it up.) Sorry, Iā€™m rather isolated from US entertainment here, and havenā€™t heard Carlinā€™s routines for years. ---
### Author: ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/18 "2005-08-09T14:54:13Z")
If a tree falls in the forest, and thereā€™s non-one around to hear it ā€¦ ā€¦ ā€¦ all the other trees start clapping ā€¦ ā€¦ ā€¦ with one hand. ---
### Author: ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/19 "2005-08-09T15:17:52Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] (I didnā€™t say he made it up.)QUOTE] Ah, Iā€™m just messing with you. Iā€™m pretty sure Carlin himself ā€œborrowedā€ it. Itā€™s been around in various forms for quite a while. ---
### Author: ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ) #### Post date: [August 9, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170/20 "2005-08-09T16:44:56Z")
Just where and in what context did the ā€œtree fallingā€ question arise? Did someone use it to make a certain philosophical point? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-tree-falls/316170.md?page=2)