科学美国人60秒 “灭霸响指”背后的物理原理(2)

（单词翻译）

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。