人類的身體并不適應(yīng)無重力的環(huán)境。生活在外太空會引發(fā)一系列的健康問題,而保持清潔衛(wèi)生也成為了巨大的麻煩,即使是小便,都需要完成一整套令人尷尬的流程。
But is it true, as a Snapple cap asserts, that you can't burp?
但是,據(jù)說,宇航員在太空中是不能打嗝的,這是真的嗎?
This is the question one Twitter user posed to former International Space Station (ISS) Commander Chris Hadfield late last week, and received a surprising answer: it's true, kinda.
一位Twitter用戶上周末向前國際空間站(ISS)指揮官克里斯·哈德菲爾德Chris Hadfield提出了上述問題,并得到了一個令人驚訝的回復(fù):真的,至少部分是。
You can't burp in space - at least not like you do here on Earth.
你不能在太空中打嗝——至少不能像你在地球上那樣來。
"You can't burp in space because the air, food and liquids in your stomach are all floating together like chunky bubbles," Hadfield replied on Twitter.
“你不能在太空中打嗝,因為你胃里的空氣、食物和液體就像大團泡沫一樣漂浮在一起。”哈德菲爾德在推特上回答道,
"If you burp, you throw up into your mouth. So guess where the trapped air goes?"
“如果你打嗝,你會把它們一起吐出來。所以猜猜,你要怎么排出肚子里的空氣?”
Air can, of course, travel from your stomach and out through your mouth in space. But the problem is the lack of gravity. Here on Earth, when you have gas trapped in your stomach, it rises to the top because it's lighter than the food and stomach juices in there.
當(dāng)然,空氣可以經(jīng)腹部擠壓,從食道通向嘴巴。但問題出在無重力環(huán)境上。在地球上,如果你的胃里有氣體時,它會上升到頂部,因為它比那里的食物和胃液要輕。
In space, where there is no gravity, the gas doesn't rise to the top. It stays mixed in with all the other stuff that's in your stomach - like the below video, an ISS experiment that involved putting an effervescent tablet in coloured water.
在沒有重力的太空中,氣體不會上升。它與你肚子里的所有其他東西混合在一起 。
So, if the gas wants to come out of your mouth, it brings that other stuff with it. It's sort of a cross between a burp and a spew.
所以,如果胃里空氣想要從你的口中出來,它會帶著其他的東西。在太空里,打嗝和嘔吐之間的界限消失了。
"When one burps in space, it is often a 'wet burp' which means some liquid is expelled," NASA engineer Robert Frost explained on Quora in 2016. "It's kind of like acid reflux."
“當(dāng)一個人在太空打嗝時,通常是‘濕嗝’,這意味著一些液體被排出,”美國宇航局工程師羅伯特·弗羅斯特在2016年在Quora上解釋道。這有點像酸反流。”
This rather unpleasant experience has also been called a 'bomit', which should give you some idea of exactly how horrible it is. Imagine having it happen in a spacesuit.
這種相當(dāng)不愉快的經(jīng)歷在地球上也被稱為“嘔吐”。想象一下,它發(fā)生在密封的宇航服里,那是何等可怕的場景。
There are further problems. You don't necessarily want all that gas going out the other end, either. The space station is a small, enclosed environment, and therefore can get pretty smelly.
此外,還有其他問題。你也不一定希望肚子里所有的氣體都從消化系統(tǒng)的另一端排出??臻g站是一個逼仄封閉的環(huán)境,因此氣味可能會很糟糕。
In the 1960s, scientists conducted experiments to determine which space diet would produce the least farts, because - wait for it - flammable butt gas was deemed a hazard in a pressurised cabin.
在20世紀60年代,科學(xué)家們進行過實驗,找出產(chǎn)生屁最少的食物來當(dāng)作宇航員的口糧,因為屁中的易燃成分可能會造成不必要的危險。
Apparently beans and other high-flatulence foods such as cabbage and Brussels sprouts were subsequently removed from the spaceflight menu, although green beans and broccoli are now included.
顯然豆類和其他高脹氣食物,如卷心菜和布魯塞爾豆芽,立即從航天飛行菜單中被刪除,而之后,黑名單里又加進了綠豆和西蘭花。
And there is actually air circulation on the ISS to keep astronauts from suffocating on their own CO2 exhalations, so farts get moved away, too.
國際空間站里實際上有空氣循環(huán)凈化設(shè)備,以防止宇航員因二氧化碳含量過高而窒息,因此屁也會被抽走。
If you do end up going to space, there was one enterprising astronaut who found a way to belch without bomiting. According to the book What's it Like in Space? by Ariel Waldman, NASA astronaut and physicist Jim Newman, who has spent 43 days in space, developed what he called the "push and burp."
如果你的夢想是成為一名宇航員,請不要因為不能打嗝而焦慮。一位有進取心的宇航員找到了一種方法。根據(jù)沃爾德曼Ariel Waldman撰寫的書籍《在外太空中生活》中披露,美國國家航空航天局宇航員兼物理學(xué)家吉姆紐曼Jim Newman在太空中度過了43天,他發(fā)明了他所謂的“推式打嗝法”。
"He found that by pushing off a wall, he could create a force in lieu of gravity that kept his food down in his stomach, giving him a brief chance at expelling gas without consequence," Waldman wrote.
“他發(fā)現(xiàn)通過推開墻壁獲得反沖,可以創(chuàng)造一種代替重力的效果,將食物留在胃里,使他獲得一個短暫的時間窗口來打一個嗝,而不至于引發(fā)糟糕的后果。”沃爾德曼寫道。
Astronauts are certainly brilliant people.
宇航員果然都是人中翹楚。