科学美国人60秒 “灭霸响指”背后的物理原理(2)

So here we have a snap done by scientists.

这里我们有科学家在打响指。

So we’re no professional athletes; we barely go to the gym.

我们不是专业运动员；我们几乎不去健身房。

And we’re about almost three times in acceleration¹ faster.

我们的加速度几乎快了三倍。

So that kind of led to this question: How are we able to perform this seemingly extraordinary feat² of acrobatics³ and human dexterity⁴?

于是，这就引出了这样一个问题：我们如何才能展现出这看似非凡的杂技技艺与人类灵巧呢？

To find out, they started to fiddle⁵ with friction⁶.

为了找出答案，他们开始不断调试摩擦力。

First, Raghav and his grad student mentor⁷ Elio Challita used some moisturizer to make their fingers a little more slippery.

首先，拉格夫和他的研究生导师埃利奥·查利塔使用了一些保湿霜，让他们的手指变得更滑一些。

And they found the resulting snaps were not so snappy.

他们发现，这样情况下打的响指并不是那么像响指。

So then they went the other way.

所以他们尝试了另一条路。

Counterintuitively, we thought, “Oh, friction is great. Let’s put some high-friction rubber pads”

反直觉的是，我们认为，“哦，摩擦力很大。让我们放置一些高摩擦的橡胶垫"

—thinking, “If I increase the friction, I’m going to get a louder snap perhaps.”

—认为，“如果我增加摩擦力，可能会听到更大的响指声。”

But that also squelched⁸ the snap because you waste too much of the stored energy trying to get your fingers to slide past each other.

但这也消除了响指声，因为浪费了太多储存的能量，试图让手指相互滑动。

And so it turns out that, in our experiments, we find that the skin friction is kind of this optimal⁹ sweet spot in this Goldilocks zone that gives you enough energy but also detaches quickly to give you the snap [snaps].

结果证明，我们发现在实验中，有一个适宜地带使皮肤摩擦力处于最佳点，这个地带可以带给你足够的能量，但能量也会迅速分离，使你打一个响指。

And as for Thanos? If you put copper¹⁰ thimbles, which we did to test the Thanos hypothesis, turns out that the compressibility of the finger pads is important as well.

至于萨诺斯呢？如果你戴上铜顶针，我们制作这个来测试萨诺斯假说，结果发现指垫的可压缩性也很重要。

If you have these rigid¹¹ surfaces, although the friction is the same as the skin, not being able to compress affects the grip and storage of energy, so you get a very weak, or not really a satisfactory, snap.

如果你有这些坚硬的表层，虽然摩擦力与皮肤相同，但不能压缩会影响附着力和能量存储，于是你会打一个非常弱，或者说不是真正令人满意的响指。

Bhamla wonders whether there’s also something special about the shape of our hands that gives us this ability.

巴姆拉想知道是不是我们的手的形状也有一些特殊可以赋予了我们这种能力。

Or can other primates¹² do it, too?

或者其他灵长类动物也能做到这一点？

I have written so many e-mails to so many anthropologists, zookeepers.

我给很多人类学家、动物园管理员写了很多电子邮件。

He’s even gone back to the movies.

他甚至又去看电影了。

What if I saw, in Planet of the Apes, these apes sitting on top of a horse and snapping?

如果我在《人猿星球》里看到这些猩猩坐在马背上打响指呢？

Well that would be okay for me because somebody at least imagined it, right?

嗯，那对我来说没问题，因为至少有人是这么想的，对吧？

Maybe they did their homework. Maybe it was described in some journal somewhere by a naturalist¹³.

也许他们做了功课。也许是某位博物学家在某本杂志上描述过。

If you’ve ever seen a chimp¹⁴ snap, please let Bhamla know.

如果你见过黑猩猩打响指，请告诉巴姆拉。

In the meantime, he’ll continue to pursue projects that captivate his curiosity.

在此期间，他将继续从事激励他好奇心的项目。

Life is too short to do boring stuff.

生命太短暂了，不能做无聊的事情。

I think it’s more enjoyable for me and the students to say, “Oh my god, like, how cool is that?”

我认为对我和学生来说，说“哦，天哪，这多酷啊!”会更有趣。

And I think when nature pushes the limits of physics and engineering, there are interesting things to be gleaned¹⁵ out of it.

我认为当大自然突破物理学和工程学的极限时，我们可以从中发现一些有趣的东西。

Plus, you can explain your findings like [snaps].

另外，你可以解释你的发现，比如打响指。

My parents now get it. Well, I think they do.

我父母现在明白了。嗯，我想他们会的。

For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Karen Hopkin.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是凯伦·霍普金。

1 acceleration   

n.加速，加速度

参考例句：

• All spacemen must be able to bear acceleration.所有太空人都应能承受加速度。
• He has also called for an acceleration of political reforms.他同时呼吁加快政治改革的步伐。

2 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

3 acrobatics   

n.杂技

参考例句：

• Acrobatics is hard to learn but beautiful to watch.杂技不好学，但很好看。
• We watched a performance which included a puppet show and acrobatics.我们观看了一场演出，内容有木偶和杂技。

4 dexterity   

n.(手的)灵巧，灵活

参考例句：

• You need manual dexterity to be good at video games.玩好电子游戏手要灵巧。
• I'm your inferior in manual dexterity.论手巧，我不如你。

5 fiddle   

n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动

参考例句：

• She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
• Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。

6 friction   

n.摩擦，摩擦力

参考例句：

• When Joan returned to work,the friction between them increased.琼回来工作后，他们之间的摩擦加剧了。
• Friction acts on moving bodies and brings them to a stop.摩擦力作用于运动着的物体，并使其停止。

7 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

8 squelched   

v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的过去式和过去分词 )；制止；压制；遏制

参考例句：

• We squelched over the soggy ground. 我们咕唧咕唧地走过泥泞的土地。
• The mud squelched as I walked through it. 我扑哧扑哧地穿过泥泞。

9 optimal   

adj.最适宜的；最理想的；最令人满意的

参考例句：

• What is the optimal mix of private and public property rights in natural resources?私人和国家的自然资源产权的最适宜的组合是什么？
• Optimal path planning is a key link for the sailing contest.帆船最优行驶路径规划是帆船比赛取胜的关键环节。

10 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

11 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

12 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

13 naturalist   

n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。

14 chimp   

n.黑猩猩

参考例句：

• In fact,the color of gorilla and chimp are light-color.其实大猩猩和黑猩猩的肤色是较为浅的。
• The chimp is the champ.猩猩是冠军。

15 gleaned   

v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗

参考例句：

• These figures have been gleaned from a number of studies. 这些数据是通过多次研究收集得来的。
• A valuable lesson may be gleaned from it by those who have eyes to see. 明眼人可从中记取宝贵的教训。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》