科学美国人60秒 “灭霸响指”背后的物理原理(1)

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是凯伦·霍普金。

Doing science isn’t easy.

做科学研究并不容易。

It takes an enormous amount of time and energy to collect and analyze¹ data.

收集和分析数据需要花费大量的时间和精力。

At least, that’s the way it usually works.

至少，科学研究通常是这样运作的。

This is one of those examples that we joke that we can snap our fingers and get data.

这是一个例子，我们开玩笑说，我们可以打个响指就能得到数据。

That’s because Saad Bhamla and his students just wrapped up a study of the physics of finger snapping.

这是因为萨阿德·巴姆拉和他的学生刚刚结束了一项关于打响指的物理研究。

They found that the right amount of friction² is key to a successful snap.

他们发现，适量的摩擦力是成功打响指的关键。

Their work appears in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface³.

他们的研究发表在《英国皇家学会界面杂志》上。

Bhamla’s lab at Georgia Tech focuses on ultrafast motion in nature.

巴姆拉在佐治亚理工学院的实验室专注于自然界中的超快运动。

Organisms can achieve really, really fast motions, and we are curious about how they’re able to do this and how we may extract those principles for perhaps synthetic⁴ systems.

有机体可以实现非常非常快的运动，我们很好奇它们是如何做到这一点的以及我们如何为合成系统提取这些原理。

Their science may be hard-core. But their lab meetings include time to be a bit more playful.

他们的科学可能是硬核的。但他们的实验室会议包括让他们玩得更开心的时间。

We have something called Super Happy Fun Time.

我们有一个叫做“超级欢乐时光”的会议。

And in this, we’ll talk about something typically nonscientific just to kind of defuse the situation after a typically intense scientific discussion that a student presents.

在这个会议中，我们将谈论一些具有代表性的非科学的东西，只是为了缓和一下学生在通常激烈的科学讨论之后的情况。

A couple years back, their talk turned to the movie Infinity⁵ Wars.

几年前，他们的话题转向电影《无尽之战》。

In the climax⁶ of this Avengers flick⁷, supervillain Thanos forever alters the Marvel⁸ Cinematic Universe with a snap of his massive, metal-clad fingers.

在这部《复仇者联盟》电影的高潮部分，超级反派萨诺斯用他巨大的、覆盖着金属的手指打了一个响声，永远改变了漫威电影宇宙。

But something about the scene left Bhamla scratching his head.

但现场的一些事情让巴姆拉摸不着头脑。

And I said, “You know what?

我说，“你知道吗？

I’m willing to make a bet that if you had metallic⁹ gauntlets like Thanos has, I would suspect that it’s actually very difficult to store energy in a controllable way.”

我敢打赌，如果你有像萨诺斯那样的金属手套，我会怀疑实际上很难以一种可控的方式储存能量。”

Energy that then has to get quickly released if you really want to snap.

如果你真的想打响指，那么这些能量就必须迅速释放出来。

So Raghav Acharya, a student in Bhamla’s lab, set up an experiment.

因此，巴姆拉实验室的学生拉格夫·阿查里亚进行了一项实验。

He put some reflective dots on his fingers so he could automatically track the finger movement when you take a side view video with a high-speed camera—just to be able to extract out the velocities¹⁰ and accelerations¹².

他在手指上放置了一些反光点，这样当你用高速摄像机拍摄侧视视频时，他就可以自动追踪手指的移动-只是为了能够提取出速度和加速度。

Because the first thing they wanted to know was: Just how fast is this jazzy hepcat gesture?

因为他们最想知道的是：这个爵士音乐迷手势到底有多快？

We discovered that the finger snap takes about seven milliseconds.

我们发现打响指大约需要7毫秒。

To put that into context, that’s 20 times faster than the blink of an eye.

相比之下，这比眨眼的速度快20倍。

A blink of an eye is glacially slow: it’s like about 150 milliseconds.

眨眼是极其缓慢的:大约150毫秒。

Even more impressive than its speed was its acceleration¹¹, which was three times faster than the throwing arm of a big-league baseball pitcher¹³.

比它的速度更令人印象深刻的是它的加速度，比一个大联盟棒球投手的手臂投球要快3倍。

1 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

2 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。

3 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。

4 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

5 infinity   

n.无限，无穷，大量

参考例句：

• It is impossible to count up to infinity.不可能数到无穷大。
• Theoretically,a line can extend into infinity.从理论上来说直线可以无限地延伸。

6 climax   

n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点

参考例句：

• The fifth scene was the climax of the play.第五场是全剧的高潮。
• His quarrel with his father brought matters to a climax.他与他父亲的争吵使得事态发展到了顶点。

7 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

8 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

9 metallic   

adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的

参考例句：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。

10 velocities   

n.速度( velocity的名词复数 )；高速，快速

参考例句：

• In experimenting we find out that sound travels with different velocities through different substances. 在实验中，我们发现声音以不同的速度通过不同的物质而传播。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• A gas in thermal equilibrium has particles of all velocities. 处于热平衡的气体，其粒子有一切速度。 来自辞典例句

11 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。

12 accelerations   

n.加速( acceleration的名词复数 )；加速度；（车辆）加速能力；（优秀学生的）跳级

参考例句：

• The two particles will undergo accelerations as a result of their interaction. 这两个粒子由于相互作用将获得加速度。 来自辞典例句
• Since the cord connecting the two blocks is inextensible, the accelerations are the same. 由于连接两物块的绳子无伸缩性，因此它们的加速度相同。 来自辞典例句

13 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。