C
calorific
Edging somewhat away from the main focus of the thread, this reminds me of one of my lecturers who posed the question "is something only a problem when it is called a problem"
perception of colour is a very weird thing. There are tribes in the world who simply don't 'see' some colours, they don't have a word for 'red'. And there is actual
nothing physically different in their eyes between them and us.
Unless there is a life form, or some other method of recording"sound", then no sound is produced, only vibrations.
These vibrations must be within the human range of hearing, for you to interpret them as "sound".
Take an ultrasonic dog whistle, you don't hear any "sound" because it is outside of your hearing range.
But a dog hears "sound" because it can detect the vibrations, that your ear can't.
Therefore the whistle only produces vibrations.
If one defines sound to be the waves with those particular lengths and frequencies within the carrying medium then there is sound, quite regardless of whether any other life form actually detects them.Unless there is a life form, or some other method of recording"sound", then no sound is produced, only vibrations.
These vibrations must be within the human range of hearing, for you to interpret them as "sound".
If one defines sound to be the waves with those particular lengths and frequencies within the carrying medium then there is sound, quite regardless of whether any other life form actually detects them.Unless there is a life form, or some other method of recording"sound", then no sound is produced, only vibrations.
These vibrations must be within the human range of hearing, for you to interpret them as "sound".
Because the dog hearing "sounds" beyond our own human abilities seemed a little confused - are you suggesting that if human's can't hear this and yet a dog can then this is not "sound"? I'm not sure that this reduced range of frequencies is sufficient for a working definition- I was focusing on the concept of vibrations rather than the effect.If one defines sound to be the waves with those particular lengths and frequencies within the carrying medium then there is sound, quite regardless of whether any other life form actually detects them.Unless there is a life form, or some other method of recording"sound", then no sound is produced, only vibrations.
These vibrations must be within the human range of hearing, for you to interpret them as "sound".
Why did you part quote me, and ignore my reasoning.
So if we don't observe and interpret it, it doesn't exist? So there is no dark side of the moon and indeed the earth is flat and all the celestial bodies revolve around the earth![]()
And indeed a tree falling down creates vibrations at particular frequencies - this is what we can call "sound" quite regardless of whether there is anyone to hear it.So if we don't observe and interpret it, it doesn't exist? So there is no dark side of the moon and indeed the earth is flat and all the celestial bodies revolve around the earth![]()
Er, I said that the SOURCE exists. There IS a side of the moon that is not normally visible to an observer on earth, and we know (unless there is a conspiacy of the highest order) that the earyth is not flat.
Agreed, but the interpreted result is not the definition of "sound".One shouldn't get confused between SOURCE and RECEIVER - the absence of the latter doesn't mean the non existence of the former.
I think you are getting thereI have said, at least twice I think, the same. You can have the SOURCE (vibrations or lght waves) WITHOUT the RECEIVER (eyes or ears) The absence of the latter does not negate the existence of the former. But without the latter you can't have the iterpreted result
These vibrations/waves within an agreed frequency range are "sound" (in whatever medium you choose, and let's not forget tha there are other conductive media such as water). As such they exist regardless of whether you, I, a dolphin or a dog hears/interprets them.]Agreed, but the interpreted result is not the definition of "sound".
I think it is, assuming we are reffering to atmospheric vibations. How else could one define ?