神奇的冰屋 是怎樣讓你保暖的?How An Igloo Keeps You Warm

神奇的冰屋 是怎樣讓你保暖的?How An Igloo Keeps You Warm

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生活在北極圈的因紐特人,以建造冰屋而聞名世界。這種用規格不同的雪磚壘砌而成的冰屋,漂亮又實用。一座好的冰屋可以在一40℃的時候,保持室內溫度在0℃左右。冰屋建在開闊向陽之處,它最獨特的是圓頂,那是一塊塊雪塊按規律堆砌成的,無任何支撐結構,卻堅固可靠。為了禦寒,還要在屋頂上蓋一層厚厚的野草,再覆一層海豹皮。用海獸腸子做窗戶的遮蔽物,只透光而不透氣,也起到禦寒作用。因紐特人世世代代居住在這樣的屋子裡,成為一道世界奇景。

For thousands of years, humans, and plants and animals long before that, have been using frozen “sky water” to keep warm。 which sort of doesn‘t make sense。

幾千年來,人類,動植物都使用雪來取暖,這毫無道理。

Because snow is cool。

因為雪是涼的。

You might even say it’s… ice cold。

甚至是說冰涼的。

No one knows for sure who built the first igloo, but with the right fit and the right physics, snow can actually warm you better than the inside of a tauntaun。

沒人確切知道誰建造了第一個冰屋,但透過合理的構造以及合理的物理,雪保暖的能力要比呆在湯湯的體內還好。 (注:湯湯是星球大戰裡的虛擬生物,雪地蜥蜴)

“You‘ll be ok, Luke”!

“沒事兒的,盧克!”

So, how can something cold keep you cozy?

但那些冷的東西如何為你保暖呢?

The vast, frozen Arctic is one of the most forbidding environments on our planet, yet, the Inuit have managed to live there for about 5,000 years。

廣闊的北極是地球上環境最嚴酷的地方,但因紐特人卻設法在那裡生活了大約5000年。

Out on the pack ice, winter temperatures reach 50 degrees below zero , and when it’s that cold, surviving means finding shelter。

冬天,冰面上的溫度達到了零下50華氏度,在嚴寒的天氣下,找到棲身地才能夠存活下去。

It‘s not an area known for its forests, so nomadic hunters learned to build with the only thing available: snow。

北極並沒有森林,因此遊牧民學會了用僅有的雪來建造房屋。

Eskimo languages really do have dozens and dozens of different words for snow, because there are a lot of different types, and the type of snow you choose can dictate whether your igloo keeps you warm, or turns you into a Homo sapiensicle。

在愛斯基摩語中,有很多不同的詞語都表示“雪”,這些雪被分為不同的種類,根據雪的種類,可以推斷出冰屋會為你保暖還是會將你變成“冰凍人”。

To understand this, we need to know a little something about being cold。

為了更好地理解,我們需要了解一些關於“冷”的知識。

When your body temperature starts to plummet – you’re feeling heat leave you。

當體溫開始下降時,你會感覺慢慢失去了所有熱量。

Cold can‘t move into your body – in fact, there is no such thing as cold。

寒冷並不會進入你的身體,事實上,並沒有某樣東西是“冷”。

Where have I heard that before?

我是在哪裡聽到這個觀點的?

Oh, right!

哦,對。

Think of heat as an actual quantity of stuff。

如果把熱量當作一個有重量的物體。

The more you give away, the colder you feel。

散失的熱量越多,你就會感覺越冷。

This trading of heat can happen three different ways: by convection, conduction, and radiation。

熱量的傳遞透過三種方式進行:對流、傳導和輻射。

All three are at play in an igloo。

冰屋裡面,熱量傳遞的這三種方式都實現了。

A person inside will radiate body heat, which moves around the igloo by convection, and is lost through the walls by conduction。

冰屋裡面的人會輻射熱量,透過對流作用,熱量不斷地在屋內流動,但這些熱量,由於傳導作用,會散發出去。

This is exactly what happens in your house。

這就是屋內所進行的物理過程。

Living insulation does the same thing。

保溫材料就是運用的這個原理進行保溫。

Fatty tissues like blubber help stop heat transfer in whales and seals, but for animals who don’t have as much junk in the trunk, they cover themselves in air。

富有油脂的東西,如鯨脂,阻止了鯨魚和海豹之間的熱量傳遞,但那些沒有很多油脂的動物則用毛來保溫。

Sea otter fur, for example, is about a thousand times denser than human hair。

例如,海獺皮,海獺皮比人類的毛髮要濃密大約一千倍。

It‘s snuggly stuff。

它的毛非常舒適。

“This is the softest thing I’ve ever felt in my life。 You are adorable”!

“這是我人生當中摸過的最柔軟的東西。你太可愛了!”

But the secret to its insulation power is in its texture。

海獺毛保溫的秘密在於毛的紋理。

Otter fur is spiky, so it traps insulating air molecules。

海獺毛尖銳,能夠困住保溫空氣分子。

And that is exactly what snowflakes do。

和雪花是一樣的。

Powdery, fresh snow can be up to 95% trapped air。

新鮮的粉末狀雪花有時能鎖住95%的空氣。

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,雪花是非常好的保溫材料,但如果你想抓一把雪花做一個雪球的話,你會發現做不了,因為密度不夠。

Solid ice, on the other hand, makes a good windbreaker, but it’s too heavy to lift。

另一方面,堅實的冰防風效果很好,但太沉,拿不動。

Inuit hunters took the Goldilocks approach: the secret to good igloo snow is somewhere in the middle。

因紐特人採用了金鳳花的辦法:冰屋保暖的秘密在於冰屋的中間部分。

Traditional igloo blocks aren‘t molded, they’re cut out of the ground。

傳統的冰屋並沒有屋子的形象,人們是直接把地挖一個口子。

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。

地上的雪非常緊密,可以被拿起來,但其中的空氣還是比冰內含有的空氣更多,比較輕便,仍然是個好的保溫材料。

As usual, animals figured this one out long before humans。

和往常一樣,動物比人類更早發現這個秘密。

Polar bears, groundhogs, even birds like grouse all make snow burrows to stay warm。

北極熊,土撥鼠,甚至是鳥類,例如松雞,都打雪洞來保暖。

And even before that, plants were tucking into snow to avoid death by freezing。

甚至在這之前,植物會把自己捲起來,埋入雪中,以防自己被凍死。

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。

天暖和了以後,土壤吸收太陽的熱量,雪就像頭頂的屋頂一樣,防止熱量揮發。

This snowy blanket above stops ice crystals from forming inside plant roots, and shoots, and seeds。

雪就像一席毯子,防止冰花凍傷植物的根部,嫩芽和種子。

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。

不被凍死是所有動物變靈巧的動力之一,但是人類的大腦更前進了一步,想出了冰屋。

Their engineering maximizes warmth and stability。

人類最大化雪花的保暖功能和穩定性。

Cartoon igloos look like flat-bottomed half-spheres, but in reality, they’re neither of those things!

動畫裡面的冰屋看起來像平面的半圓,但實際上不是。

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兩部分,你可以看見懸鏈線的形狀。

This gradually sloping shape is the same one that would form if you held a chain from both ends and let it droop。

如果你拿著一根鏈條的兩端,讓它自由地下落,得到的形狀就是懸鏈線。

A catenary arch distributes weight more evenly than a half circle, without bulging or buckling。

鏈狀比半圓更能承受住重量,並且不會被壓彎。

In fact it’s one of the most stable arches in nature, so sound that we still use it today。

事實上,這是自然界中最穩固的弓形之一,如今我們仍然常常用到。

Inside, snow houses are carved in different levels。

冰屋裡面有分層。

The hot air rises, and the cold air sinks down into the lower part, and away from where you would eat, sleep, and chill。

熱空氣上升,冷空氣下降至低處,遠離你吃飯、睡覺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。

人的體熱熔化了牆最深處的部分,增強了人、保溫層和外邊寒冷之間的障礙。

When you live in an igloo, you act as a living furnace。

生活在冰屋內,人類就是活火爐。

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。

冰屋的溫度在40-60華氏度之間徘徊,如果你帶朋友去你的冰屋裡面聚會,那你就會變得更暖和。

Stay cozy, and stay curious!

注意保暖,保持求知心!