最快的人造物體可能是一個時速12.5萬英里的核動力井蓋

所屬教程:英語漫讀

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2019年11月18日

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The Fastest Man-Made Object Might Be A Nuclear-Powered Manhole Cover Which Reached 125,000 MPH

最快的人造物體可能是一個時速12.5萬英里的核動力井蓋

It’s always a good idea to throw out fun facts in conversations with family and friends, or better yet, new acquaintances. These make you sound smart, interesting, and you can make a good impression.

在與家人和朋友，或者更好的是新認識的人交談時，拋出有趣的事實總是一個好主意。這些會讓你聽起來很聰明、有趣，而且會給人留下好印象。

These can include a variety of things like, “Did you know that the tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa?” or “Did you know that the largest animal in the world is the blue whale?” or “Did you know that the fastest man-made object is a manhole cover?” Yeah, we didn’t believe that either. Until it became apparent that it was true.

這些可以包括各種各樣的事情，比如，“你知道世界上最高的建筑是哈利法塔嗎?”或者“你知道世界上最大的動物是藍鯨嗎?”或者“你知道最快的人造物體是探井蓋嗎?”“是的，我們也不相信。直到這些被證明是真的。

Back in the late 1950s, the US was conducting a lot of nuclear bomb tests under the name Operation Plumbbob

早在上世紀50年代末，美國就以“鉛彈行動”的名義進行了大量核彈試驗

Image credits: Public Domain

A total of 29 tests were carried out in the Nevada Test Site from May to October of 1957. On August 27, 1957, around an hour before midnight, a test called Pascal-B (originally Galileo-B) took place. Like Pascal-A, it was a one-point criticality safety test of the same design. Except, it had a concrete plug similar to the collimator used in the Pascal A test, which was placed just above the device at the bottom of the shaft.

1957年5月至10月在內(nèi)華達試驗場總共進行了29次試驗。1957年8月27日午夜前一小時左右，進行了一次名為Pascal-B(原Galileo-B)的試驗。與Pascal-A一樣，這是同一設計的一項單點臨界安全測試。除了，它有一個類似帕斯卡測試中使用的準直器的混凝土塞，它被放置在軸底部的設備上方。

Image credits: iwishmynamewasmarsha

The collimator was so close to the explosion that it was, quite literally, vaporized. The extremely heated gas quickly expanded and blasted towards the top of the shaft where a steel plate was in place. Needless to say, the plate did not conceal the explosion and instead skyrocketed into the heavens at a speed of 56 km/s, which is 201,600 kilometers or 125,268 miles per hour.

準直儀離爆炸太近了，幾乎被蒸發(fā)了。極熱的氣體迅速膨脹并噴向安裝了鋼板的井筒頂部。不用說，這個板塊并沒有掩蓋爆炸，而是以每秒56公里的速度沖上天空，也就是每小時201600公里或125268英里。

Image credits: National Nuclear Security Administration

In perspective, this is approx. five times faster than the Earth’s escape velocity or roughly 775 times faster than a 2019 Ford Mustang GT 5.0. High-speed cameras filmed the steel manhole cover as it was flying sky-high, but scientists never found it afterward. It is very unlikely that the object managed to leave Earth as it would simply not be able to retain its speed given its lack of aerodynamics and other physical earthly forces. The dominant theory is that it was way beyond the reach of any search party to find.

正確地說，這大約比地球的移動速度快5倍，大約比2019年福特野馬GT 5.0快775倍。高速攝像機拍下了井蓋飛上天空的過程，但科學家們后來再也沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)它。由于缺乏空氣動力學和地球上的其他物理力量，該物體不太可能離開地球，因為它將無法保持其速度。主導的理論是，任何搜索方都無法找到它。