If a tree falls in the woods, energy is released when the object moves through and compresses air. Some of the energy is released in the form of sound waves. The sound waves travel as far as sound waves are known to travel. They travel until they bounce off of some material and go into new directions. Other material absorbs the energy of the sound waves and the sound goes no further.

Some of the energy comes from the impact of the tree with some other object, which releases of energy in the form of impact waves which go through the other object or through the ground.

Mammals have special organs that receive and amplify compressed air. Over time, their minds have learned to process and classify certain sounds so that they can relate them to specific causes of the sound, such as trees falling. If the mammals happen to be close enough to the tree falling incident, then their hearing systems will receive the compressed air waves and their feet or bodies will sense some of the impact waves that go through the ground. Their eyes will notice movement of other objects, such as waves going through normally still water. They will smell and taste dust that may rise, or sap from damaged tree parts.

Then their minds will interpret the sound, sensual, and visual cues. The sensations either have no internal referent and the event is something new, or memory, experience and learning will help to guess that only a large falling object could cause such sensations and feelings. Curiosity will lead to exploration to see what may have happened or to test the guess.

Humans are compelled to respond with more exploration, classification, investigation and formalized understanding. Exploration is done and observations are made. Where did the tree fall, what type of tree is it? What did the tree look like when it stood upright? What caused it to fall?

After time, humans do not need proof that the tree fell. They know that the tree, lying flat on the ground, at an angle where it leans against something else, or partially intact allows inference and deduction: the tree should be vertical and whole. It is not. All or part of it is lying on the ground. Therefore the tree, or part of it fell. When this happens, there is sound, and there is impact with the earth or other objects. Therefore the event made sound and made the earth shake.

Humans have to take it farther: the amount of decomposition relates to the age of the event. A lot of decomposition indicates that the tree fell a long time ago. No decomposition, plus attached and green leaves indicate that the tree fell recently.

As a result, if a tree falls in the woods and there is no human to hear it, it does not matter. Humans have the intellectual ability to explore, investigate, classify, remember, relate, test, and compare. From there, humans can make inferences and deductions that serve to assure them that if a tree is lying down, it fell. Since the tree fell, it compressed the air and made sound. There may have been humans around to sense the event.

But when humans see a fallen tree they should be humbled by the fact that the world and it's phenomena will happen whether we are there to sense it or not.

Learn more about this author, Elizabeth M. Young.
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