Tree in the woods

[notself]

Unless the tree is falling in a vacume there will always be a sound.

When a tree falls in a empty forest it does produce pressure waves.  The pressure waves produce no sound unless they come in contact with a receiver (ear and brain).

A tree falling in a vacuum produces no sound waves.  Even if a receiver were present no sound would be heard because no pressure wave would be produced in a vacuum.

If a tree were to fall in a forest and there was no one to hear, it would produce pressure waves.  That is all.

[McQ]

Unless the tree is falling in a vacume there will always be a sound.

When a tree falls in a empty forest it does produce pressure waves.  The pressure waves produce no sound unless they come in contact with a receiver (ear and brain).

A tree falling in a vacuum produces no sound waves.  Even if a receiver were present no sound would be heard because no pressure wave would be produced in a vacuum.

If a tree were to fall in a forest and there was no one to hear, it would produce pressure waves.  That is all.

+1. Nice and succinct.  

[dogsmycopilot]

We've probalby all heard this question at one point or another, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? I originaly intended to post this in the science section, the reason? I recently tried to disprove this statement from a physics standpoint, however with a limited understanding my arguments had some flaws. So I want to know what you think, does a tree make a sound? How did you conclude this? Any other details would be helpful.

But if you need firewood what does it matter? My point being what do philosophical questions like this matter when there are actual things that need to be solved? How does solving this contribute to humanity in any way? And if it does not contribute how do you justify time spent on it?

[elliebean]

Entertainment?

[dogsmycopilot]

Entertainment?

Ok. Long as there is some reason.

[pinkocommie]

We've probalby all heard this question at one point or another, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound? I originaly intended to post this in the science section, the reason? I recently tried to disprove this statement from a physics standpoint, however with a limited understanding my arguments had some flaws. So I want to know what you think, does a tree make a sound? How did you conclude this? Any other details would be helpful.

But if you need firewood what does it matter? My point being what do philosophical questions like this matter when there are actual things that need to be solved? How does solving this contribute to humanity in any way? And if it does not contribute how do you justify time spent on it?

I'm pretty sure the tree in the woods question is a koan.  The description of a koan listed on Wikipedia is pretty spot on - A kōan (pronounced /ˈkoÊŠ.É'ːn/; Chinese: å...¬æ¡ˆ; pinyin: gōng-àn; Korean: gong'an; Vietnamese: công án) is a fundamental part of the history and lore of Zen Buddhism. It consists of a story, dialogue, question, or statement; the meaning of which cannot be understood by rational  thinking, yet it may be accessible by intuition. One widely known kōan is "Two hands clap and there is a sound; what is the sound of one hand?" (oral tradition attributed to Hakuin Ekaku, 1686-1769, considered a reviver of the kōan tradition in Japan).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dan

When I was studying Zen Buddhism I found koans profoundly helpful.  There are tons of stories about monks who, when pondering a koan, suddenly found enlightenment.  I never personally experienced enlightenment from considering a koan, but I have used them as a kind of meditation tool to get my head straight when I'm feeling particularly confused or grumpy.  Kind of like a re-set exercise for my brain when I find myself mistaking my perceptions for reality.  The funny thing about a koan is that they are useless, they're supposed to be useless.  So when you say 'what does it matter?' a Zen Buddhist would probably happily respond 'it totally doesn't'.

[Faradaympp]

[quote="Tanker]
How about a star 100 light years away went supernova 50 years ago. Is it still a star or a rapidly expanding ball of gas. Answer: expanding ball of gas we just don't know it yet. Just because we don't witness an event (tree falling) or it's effect (sound) does not mean the event or effects never happened.[/quote]

Hey that's actually a pretty good example, I hadn't thought of that.

[Tanker]

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Thanks. Going over all your old threads?