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If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one to hear ...
....does it make a sound?
This is really a question of logic. In a defined universe, preferably ours, we can state the following: "If a tree falls in the woods it makes a sound." This would happen 100% of the time without question. Of course whether or not anyone would hear that noise depends on an infinite number of factors. Just to name a few there could be a situation where the person close enough to possibly hear the sound is listening to an Ipod(too loud to hear it), they could be deaf, they could be hit by the falling tree(knocked out and unable to hear it), the chainsaw they are using to cut down the tree could be too loud to hear the noise, and so on.
Let's take the case of the chainsaw. If someone had a chainsaw that whizzed at a higher decibel than the sound of the tree falling it would override the sound waves of the tree falling (this is just a scientific guess) and therefore the sound of the tree falling would be wiped out. Did it make a noise? Since sound does travel in waves, the definition of sound that we use is also imperative. If the deaf person walked by and the tree fell right next to them....they could feel the waves, the same ones making the sound. In that case it does make a sound that can be felt in waves.
So logically in any universe such as ours that a tree falls in the woods, it does make a sound.
What about if no one is there to hear it?
Since I believe that if someone were in the woods to hear the tree fall then it would definitely make a noise, then I can say with utmost certainty that if no one were in the woods when the tree fell then no one would hear it and it didn't make a sound.
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