If a tree falls in the forest and nobody's around to hear it, does it make a sound?
This is a fairly popular phrase and I think there is more to it than what you get at first glance. Practically speaking, why wouldn't it make noise? Physics doesn't happen when we are watching, it happens all the time. That's why we call them the Laws of Physics. They are always true. But, how can we be sure? We can't observe something we don't see, so how can we pass judgment on it?
If we think about what sound is, it is what our ears hear after some physical event. So if our ears aren't there to hear the sound, is it still sound? Or is it just a vibration of air that may or may not be heard, depending on if there is someone or something there to hear it?
Kind of a mind numbing thought, but the fact is we can't really prove it, can we? If I placed a recording device in a forest that had unlimited memory and waited until a tree fell down, or maybe helped a tree begin to fall down, the microphone would pick up the sound of the tree falling. Or at least that's a pretty safe assumption. So this would imply that it does make a sound.
But by putting a listening device there, we are again simulating being there to hear the tree fall, Thus forcing the argument the other way, to no, there is no sound to hear therefore it does not make a sound.
So this is somewhat of a confusing loop that I don't have an exact answer for. It really only comes down to how we interpret the word sound.
I'll leave you to pass your own judgment, and I am curious to hear what you think!
As a quick fact about sound, if two objects hit each other in space, there wouldn't be any sound whatsoever! Space has no medium of air, water or anything for sound waves to actually travel through to your ears. No medium, no sound. Space might be relaxingly quiet.. or maybe too quiet?
Is there anything else we can take from this thought experiment? Well maybe not without deviating too far from the scope of this post, but it does open the door to more thought experiments. It's interesting to think through these experiments in a creative, unbiased manner, and I plan to do just that in upcoming posts!
Until then!
This is a fairly popular phrase and I think there is more to it than what you get at first glance. Practically speaking, why wouldn't it make noise? Physics doesn't happen when we are watching, it happens all the time. That's why we call them the Laws of Physics. They are always true. But, how can we be sure? We can't observe something we don't see, so how can we pass judgment on it?
If we think about what sound is, it is what our ears hear after some physical event. So if our ears aren't there to hear the sound, is it still sound? Or is it just a vibration of air that may or may not be heard, depending on if there is someone or something there to hear it?
Kind of a mind numbing thought, but the fact is we can't really prove it, can we? If I placed a recording device in a forest that had unlimited memory and waited until a tree fell down, or maybe helped a tree begin to fall down, the microphone would pick up the sound of the tree falling. Or at least that's a pretty safe assumption. So this would imply that it does make a sound.
But by putting a listening device there, we are again simulating being there to hear the tree fall, Thus forcing the argument the other way, to no, there is no sound to hear therefore it does not make a sound.
So this is somewhat of a confusing loop that I don't have an exact answer for. It really only comes down to how we interpret the word sound.
I'll leave you to pass your own judgment, and I am curious to hear what you think!
As a quick fact about sound, if two objects hit each other in space, there wouldn't be any sound whatsoever! Space has no medium of air, water or anything for sound waves to actually travel through to your ears. No medium, no sound. Space might be relaxingly quiet.. or maybe too quiet?
Is there anything else we can take from this thought experiment? Well maybe not without deviating too far from the scope of this post, but it does open the door to more thought experiments. It's interesting to think through these experiments in a creative, unbiased manner, and I plan to do just that in upcoming posts!
Until then!
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