保暖的冰屋子|神奇的冰屋 是怎样让你保暖的( 二 )


"This is the softest thing I've ever felt in my life. You are adorable"!
"这是我人生当中摸过的最柔软的东西 。你太可爱了!"
But the secret to its insulation power is in its texture.
海獭毛保温的秘密在于毛的纹理 。
Otter fur is spiky, so it traps insulating air molecules.
海獭毛尖锐,能够困住保温空气分子 。
And that is exactly what snowflakes do.
和雪花是一样的 。
Powdery, fresh snow can be up to 95% trapped air.
新鲜的粉末状雪花有时能锁住95%的空气 。
This makes it an excellent insulator, but the same way you have to pack it in your hands to make a snowball, it isn't dense enough to build with.
因此,雪花是非常好的保温材料,但如果你想抓一把雪花做一个雪球的话,你会发现做不了,因为密度不够 。
Solid ice, on the other hand, makes a good windbreaker, but it's too heavy to lift.
另一方面,坚实的冰防风效果很好,但太沉,拿不动 。
Inuit hunters took the Goldilocks approach: the secret to good igloo snow is somewhere in the middle.
因纽特人采用了金凤花的办法:冰屋保暖的秘密在于冰屋的中间部分 。
Traditional igloo blocks aren't molded, they're cut out of the ground.
传统的冰屋并没有屋子的形象,人们是直接把地挖一个口子 。
That tightly-packed ground snow is dense enough to hold up, but because it still has far more air pockets than a block of ice, it's light, and still a pretty good insulator.
地上的雪非常紧密,可以被拿起来,但其中的空气还是比冰内含有的空气更多,比较轻便,仍然是个好的保温材料 。
As usual, animals figured this one out long before humans.
和往常一样,动物比人类更早发现这个秘密 。
Polar bears, groundhogs, even birds like grouse all make snow burrows to stay warm.
北极熊,土拨鼠,甚至是鸟类,例如松鸡,都打雪洞来保暖 。
And even before that, plants were tucking into snow to avoid death by freezing.
甚至在这之前,植物会把自己卷起来,埋入雪中,以防自己被冻死 。
During the warm months, heat energy from the sun builds up in soil, and just like the the roof above your head, a deep covering of snow prevents that heat from escaping onward and upward.
天暖和了以后,土壤吸收太阳的热量,雪就像头顶的屋顶一样,防止热量挥发 。
This snowy blanket above stops ice crystals from forming inside plant roots, and shoots, and seeds.
雪就像一席毯子,防止冰花冻伤植物的根部,嫩芽和种子 。
Not freezing to death is a pretty good motivator for any animal to get crafty, but our big primate brains took it one step further with igloos.
不被冻死是所有动物变灵巧的动力之一,但是人类的大脑更前进了一步,想出了冰屋 。
Their engineering maximizes warmth and stability.
人类最大化雪花的保暖功能和稳定性 。
Cartoon igloos look like flat-bottomed half-spheres, but in reality, they're neither of those things!
动画里面的冰屋看起来像平面的半圆,但实际上不是 。
If you were to slice a real igloo in half, you'd see a shape called a catenary.
如果把真正的冰屋分成两部分,你可以看见悬链线的形状 。
This gradually sloping shape is the same one that would form if you held a chain from both ends and let it droop.
如果你拿着一根链条的两端,让它自由地下落,得到的形状就是悬链线 。
A catenary arch distributes weight more evenly 百思特网than a half circle, without bulging or buckling.
链状比半圆更能承受住重量,并且不会被压弯 。
In fact it's one of the most stable arches in nature, so sound that we still use it today.
事实上,这是自然界中最稳固的弓形之一,如今我们仍然常常用到 。
Inside, snow houses are carved in different levels.
冰屋里面有分层 。
The hot air rises, and the cold air sinks down into the lower part, and away from where you would eat, sleep, and chill.
热空气上升,冷空气下降至低处,远离你吃饭、睡觉以及感到寒冷的地方 。
To boot, body heat melts the innermost layer of the walls, strengthening the barrier between you, your airy snow-block insulation, and the frigid great beyond.
人的体热熔化了墙最深处的部分,增强了人、保温层和外边寒冷之间的障碍 。
When you live in an igloo, you act as a living furnace.
生活在冰屋内,人类就是活火炉 。
Over time, the temperature in your icy abode can hover some 40-60 degrees above the surrounding air, but bring a friend to your igloo party, and you'll get warmer, faster.
冰屋的温度在40-60华氏度之间徘徊,如果你带朋友去你的冰屋里面聚会,那你就会变得更暖和 。