《那些古怪又让人忧心的问题》第37期:冰球一击(2)

But a hockey puck moving at Mach 8 would have a lot of problems, starting with the fact that the air ahead of the puck would be compressed and heated very rapidly. It wouldn't be going fast enough to ionize the air and leave a glowing trail like a meteor, but the surface of the puck would (given a long enough flight) start to melt or char.

但一个以8马赫速度运动的冰球会碰到很多问题。首先冰球前方的空气会被急速压缩，因而温度会急剧上升。它不会像陨石那样速度快到足以电离空气并在身后留下一条发光的尾迹，但（只要时间足够长）冰球的表面将开始融化或碳化。

The air resistance, however, would slow the puck down very quickly, so a puck going at Mach 8 when it leaves the launcher might be going a fraction of that when it arrives at the goal. And even at Mach 8, the puck probably wouldn't pass through the goalie's body. Instead, it would burst apart on impact with the power of a large firecracker or small stick of dynamite.

而空气阻力将使冰球迅速减速，所以当一个被以8马赫的速度发射出来的冰球到达对方球门时，它的速度可能比初始速度慢多了。就算它仍保持8马赫的速度，也不太可能击穿对面守门员的身体。相反它会因为剧烈的撞击而四分五裂，威力相当于一个大型爆竹或者一小条炸药。

If you're like me, when you first saw this question, you might've imagined the puck leaving a cartoon-style hockey-puck-shaped hole. But that's because our intuitions are shaky about how materials react at very high speeds.

如果你是像我这样的人，那么在第一眼看到这个问题时你想到的可能是冰球会在守门员躯体上留下一个动画片里那种冰球形状的洞。但这只是因为，我们对于各种材料在极高速下会发生什么的直觉是十分不正确的。

Instead, a different mental picture might be more accurate: Imagine throwing a ripe tomato-as hard as you can-at a cake.

相反，实际的场景更可能是这样的：想象一下你以最大的力气把一个熟透的西红柿往一个蛋糕上砸。

That's about what would happen.

这有助于你想象那个冰球砸中对面守门员后会发生什么……

1 Though it uses hydrogen instead of air, and when you shoot your eye out, you really shoot your eye out.

1． 不过它用的是氢气而不是空气，而且它不仅会让你惊得眼珠子都掉出来，它会真的把你的眼珠子射出来。