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。

保暖的冰屋子|神奇的冰屋 是怎样让你保暖的( 二 )

保暖的冰屋子|神奇的冰屋是怎样让你保暖的( 二 )