Tree/forest Question...(was Re: Can God...)

• Messages sorted by:[ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

>>>>> "Bill" == Bill Clifton <woodrow_@geocities.com> writes:

    Bill> Robert J. Brown wrote:
    >>  >>>>> "Bill" == Bill Clifton <woodrow_@geocities.com> writes:
    >> 
    Bill> One needs to clarify what sound is, as opposed to
    Bill> energy. The tree falls and energy is translated into
    Bill> compression waves in the ground and air.  Depending on the
    Bill> amount of energy imparted into the medium and the rate of
    Bill> disapation the waves will travel a given distance. If there
    Bill> is nothing there to translate this energy back to an audible
    Bill> input then "sound" was not produced. The energy was
    Bill> produced, the potnetial was there, but sound is not the
    Bill> energy wave in air but the responce of an organism to this
    Bill> energy. So the answer is no sound was produced only energy.
    >>  Wrong again, Batman!
    >> 
    >> If sound is "the responce of an organism", then me holding my
    >> ears is "sound", not the heavy metal rock music coming out of
    >> the car next to me.  Somehow, this does not seem quite right to
    >> me...
    >> 
    >> -- -------- "And there came a writing to him from Elijah" [2Ch
    >> 21:12] -------- Robert Jay Brown III rj@eli.elilabs.com
    >> http://www.elilabs.com 1 847 705-0424 Elijah Laboratories Inc.;
    >> 37 South Greenwood Avenue; Palatine, IL 60067-6328 ----- M o d
    >> e l i n g t h e M e t h o d s o f t h e M i n d ------

    Bill> Talk about beating a dead horse, sound is defined as the
    Bill> response in an organism to the compression waves. The
    Bill> "response" is the conversion of physical energy (sound wave)
    Bill> into a form our brain can use (electric pulses). Sound is
    Bill> the name for the brains reaction to response of the nerves
    Bill> of the ear to the compression wave. Do we need to get into
    Bill> anatomy here too.....

    Bill> Energy is created when the tree falls....if that energy gets
    Bill> converted by an organism then there is sound. Sound is what
    Bill> we hear. You can also feel the compression waves - but if
    Bill> you may not "hear" them if they are at a frequecy that your
    Bill> ear can not detect. The energy is there but no sound
    Bill> accompanies it cause we cant detect it.

    Bill> I wonder if this should be taken off list.

    Bill> Bill Clifton, woodrow_@geocities.com
    Bill> http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/1226/index.html

Just one last remark:

>From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Sound \Sound\, n. [OE. soun, OF. son, sun, F. son, fr. L. sonus akin to Skr. svana sound, svan to
sound, and perh. to E. swan. Cf. Assonant, Consonant, Person, Sonata, Sonnet, Sonorous, Swan.] 1.
The peceived object occasioned by the impulse or vibration of a material substance affecting the ear; a
sensation or perception of the mind received through the ear, and produced by the impulse or vibration
of the air or other medium with which the ear is in contact; the effect of an impression made on the
organs of hearing by an impulse or vibration of the air caused by a collision of bodies, or by other
means; noise; report; as, the sound of a drum; the sound of the human voice; a horrid sound; a
charming sound; a sharp, high, or shrill sound. 

The warlike sound Of trumpets loud and clarions. --Milton. 

2. The occasion of sound; the impulse or vibration which would occasion sound to a percipient if
present with unimpaired; hence, the theory of vibrations in elastic media such cause sound; as, a
treatise on sound.