科普：龍卷風來時，要不要打開窗戶？

龍卷風馬上就要來臨了，你正身處溫暖舒適的房屋里，你只有幾分鐘的時間做些什么來防止龍卷風可能帶來的傷害。你是應該打開窗戶來讓屋內外的氣壓達到平衡，防止窗戶的炸裂;還是應該緊閉窗戶，趕緊躲到你認為最安全的地方去?

Before we answer the question, let's talk a little bit about tornadoes. Whirling, stormy twisters create a path of unholy destruction everywhere they go. Dervishes with so much pressure built up that they pop open houses like so many tight seams, and rip roofs off buildings. Do you see what we're getting at here?

在回答這個問題之前，我們先來談談龍卷風吧。它們帶著暴風雨急轉著向前進，只在身后留下一條毀滅之路。龍卷風的氣壓太大了，它們會將房屋外墻擠出一條條裂縫，然后直接掀起房頂。那么我們在這里得到什么了嗎?

Tornadoes aren't going to calm down when they encounter an open window. They're going to blow right through it and never look back. But of course, that's the short answer to the question. Where, exactly, did we get the idea that opening up a house to equalize pressure in a tornado would work? And is there some other strategy that might help?

所以，當龍卷風遇到一扇開著的窗戶時，它們并不會因此平靜下來。它們會直接穿過去，將房屋摧毀。我們到底是從哪里得到這樣的想法：在龍卷風中打開窗戶來平衡壓力是有用的?

First off, you weren't just hearing old wives' tales. It really was the standard wisdom for a while that the extreme pressure of a tornado would less affect a house if you opened it up, to allow equalization between outside and in. The thought was that if you left your windows closed, the low pressure of the twister would cause the higher pressure in the house to push out.

首先聲明一下，這不并是老太太的無稽之談。在比較短暫的時間里，龍卷風所帶來的極端壓力不會對房屋產生影響。如果此時你打開窗戶，可以讓外部氣壓和內部氣壓保持平衡。提出“打開窗戶來平衡壓力”的人們是這樣想的：如果你關上窗戶，龍卷風帶來的低壓會導致房屋里的壓力增大，最終這些壓力將會把房屋撐到炸開。

Now, when this theory was actually put to the test? Researchers found it didn't hold up. Leaving windows open actually caused the force of the tornado to push up on the roof of the house, while the gusts of the twister lifted the roof. Open windows and doors, in other words, resulted in an airborne roof .

但是當這個理論真正接受考驗的時候，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)這種情況并不成立。打開窗戶會將龍卷風的力量集中到房頂上，然后房頂就會被龍卷風掀起。換句話說，如果你打開了窗戶和門，你的屋頂會被更快地掀起。

A tornado is much too strong to "equalize" with the pressure of a house, and if it wants to let itself in through open windows or doors — you better believe it has an aggressive way of doing it. Instead of wasting time running to unlatch locks or open shutters, get yourself to a safe place in the house, hunker down and wait it out.

龍卷風所帶來的低壓系統(tǒng)太強大了，不可能和房屋內的氣壓“平衡”，如果它通過開著的窗戶或門進入房屋內了，你就只能祈禱了。所以當龍卷風來臨時，不要浪費時間去打開門或者打開百葉窗，你只需要在房屋里找到一個安全的地方，蹲下來等待就好。