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音頻科普：意麵問題破解了
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音頻科普：意麵問題破解了
An intrepid undergrad led the way to understanding the physics of snapping strands of spaghetti.一個勇於探索的大學生，開辟了一條求解意麵的斷裂原理的新思路。
播音\撰文：卡倫·霍普金（Karen Hopkin）
翻譯：陳美娟
Physicists concern themselves with problems that are profound. The , the , the . And then, there’s spaghetti. A pasta problem has perplexed physicists as celebrated as Richard Feynman, and has even been awarded an Ig Nobel prize. At issue:
物理學家一般會關注深刻的命題。例如宇宙的起源，時間的本質，物質的構成，以及，意麵！“意麵問題”困住了一群像理查德·費曼（Richard Feynman）一樣的著的名物理學家，該領域的研究成果甚至被評過搞笑諾貝爾獎（IgNoble Price）。
“Why doesn’t break into two pieces. Why it breaks into three pieces or more.”
“為什麽一根意麵不能斷成兩段。為什麽它隻能斷成三段以上。”
Ronald Heisser, now a grad student at Cornell, decided to explore the misbehavior of spaghetti for an undergraduate math course he took at MIT.
羅納德·海瑟（Ronald Heisser）現在是康奈爾大學的一名研究生，他在麻省理工大學的一次本科數學上並決定研究意麵這種“不聽話”的表現。
Now, you may never have noticed it, but it’s nearly impossible to break a single, dry piece of spaghetti in half. Feynman allegedly noodled with the puzzle. And Heisser became similarly possessed.
你可能永遠不會注意到這個現象，不過想要把一根幹意麵條折成一半幾乎是不可能的。據說費曼一直糾結著這個謎，而海瑟也經曆過相似的過程。
“I’m a little bit of a contrarian person. So I thought it would be fun to try and break it into two. ‘Cause no one said you couldn’t do that. They just said why it doesn’t break into two.”
“我是一個有點叛逆的人。我想，試著把麵條折成兩段會很好玩。因為沒人說過你不能把意麵折成兩段。他們隻是說為什麽意麵折不成兩段。”
In fact, the French researchers who were awarded the Ig Nobel prize in 2006 found that when spaghetti is bent evenly from both ends it will crack near the center, where the stick is most curved. But this initial break sets up a vibrational wave that quickly fractures the rod further. So you get multiple fragments.
事實上，2006年獲得“搞笑諾貝爾獎”的法國研究者發現，將意麵從距離兩端點相同的位置彎折的時候裂口離中心很近，此處麵條達到最彎。但是折斷之後引發的振動波迅速讓斷裂加劇。這就是最後你得到不止兩截麵條的原因。
What Heisser wondered was whether he could somehow get around this vibrational “snapback” effect. And he found you have to do the twist. Heisser built a device for torquing his pasta with precision and he observed the resulting fragmentation with a high-speed camera. He discovered that introducing a twist of around 360 degrees to the long strand allowed him to produce the desired single pair of pasta pieces.
海瑟想知道他是否能設法繞開這種震動“反彈”效應。而他發現必須要製造扭曲的狀態才可以。海瑟製造了一個裝置用來精確地扭轉他的意大利麵，並用高速攝影機觀察由此產生的碎片。他發現當一長條意麵扭轉到360度時就能製造出他想要的單對意麵段。
That’s where Vishal Patil, a grad student in mathematics at MIT, comes in:
這就是另一個麻省理工數學專業研究生維薩爾·帕蒂爾（Vishal Patil）加入的原因：
“So I first heard about this spaghetti problem from coauthors Ronald Heisser and Professor Jörn Dunkel when I first arrived at MIT…and after hearing about this problem, I became interested in developing mathematical models for the fracture of this elastic rod. And in particular, to see if using this model you could find out ways to control the fracture in the rod.”
“當我來到麻省第一次從合著者羅納德·海瑟和約翰恩·鄧克爾（Jörn Dunkel）教授那裏聽說這個意麵問題的時候，我就對建造這種有彈性麵條折斷時的數學模型非常感興趣，尤其是想利用這種模型找到控製折斷它的方法。”
Controlling fractures is a big issue in materials science and could have applications in everything from the design of highways and bridges to the engineering of nanotubes.
在材料科學上，控製折斷反應是一個大的課題，它有從高速公路設計到納米管的各類工程上的廣泛應用。
Patil’s modeling showed that twisting the spaghetti dampens the snapback effect. That’s because once the twisted stick is broken, it will try to unwind. This rapid unwinding creates a “twisting wave” that basically blocks the vibrational snapback wave, leaving the spaghetti in two clean pieces. The work is served up in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Ronald H. Heisser et al., ]
帕蒂爾的模型顯示，扭轉意麵能抑製回彈反應。這是因為一旦被扭轉的麵條破裂，它就會舒展開。這種迅速的舒展反應製造了能阻斷振動回彈波的“扭轉波”，因此讓意麵利落地斷成兩截。這項研究發表在《國家科學學報》上。
VP: “Although the project was a bit of fun I think it’s quite nice when you can find interesting physics and maths lurking behind everyday, mundane objects.”
維薩爾·帕蒂爾說：“盡管這個研究項目聽著有點不正經，我覺得能從每天的日常生活中發現隱藏的物理和數學現象還是很棒的。”
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An intrepid undergrad led the way to understanding the physics of snapping strands of spaghetti.一個勇於探索的大學生，開辟了一條求解意麵的斷裂原理的新思路。
播音\撰文：卡倫·霍普金（Karen Hopkin）
翻譯：陳美娟
Physicists concern themselves with problems that are profound. The , the , the . And then, there’s spaghetti. A pasta problem has perplexed physicists as celebrated as Richard Feynman, and has even been awarded an Ig Nobel prize. At issue:
物理學家一般會關注深刻的命題。例如宇宙的起源，時間的本質，物質的構成，以及，意麵！“意麵問題”困住了一群像理查德·費曼（Richard Feynman）一樣的著的名物理學家，該領域的研究成果甚至被評過搞笑諾貝爾獎（IgNoble Price）。
“Why doesn’t break into two pieces. Why it breaks into three pieces or more.”
“為什麽一根意麵不能斷成兩段。為什麽它隻能斷成三段以上。”
Ronald Heisser, now a grad student at Cornell, decided to explore the misbehavior of spaghetti for an undergraduate math course he took at MIT.
羅納德·海瑟（Ronald Heisser）現在是康奈爾大學的一名研究生，他在麻省理工大學的一次本科數學上並決定研究意麵這種“不聽話”的表現。
Now, you may never have noticed it, but it’s nearly impossible to break a single, dry piece of spaghetti in half. Feynman allegedly noodled with the puzzle. And Heisser became similarly possessed.
你可能永遠不會注意到這個現象，不過想要把一根幹意麵條折成一半幾乎是不可能的。據說費曼一直糾結著這個謎，而海瑟也經曆過相似的過程。
“I’m a little bit of a contrarian person. So I thought it would be fun to try and break it into two. ‘Cause no one said you couldn’t do that. They just said why it doesn’t break into two.”
“我是一個有點叛逆的人。我想，試著把麵條折成兩段會很好玩。因為沒人說過你不能把意麵折成兩段。他們隻是說為什麽意麵折不成兩段。”
In fact, the French researchers who were awarded the Ig Nobel prize in 2006 found that when spaghetti is bent evenly from both ends it will crack near the center, where the stick is most curved. But this initial break sets up a vibrational wave that quickly fractures the rod further. So you get multiple fragments.
事實上，2006年獲得“搞笑諾貝爾獎”的法國研究者發現，將意麵從距離兩端點相同的位置彎折的時候裂口離中心很近，此處麵條達到最彎。但是折斷之後引發的振動波迅速讓斷裂加劇。這就是最後你得到不止兩截麵條的原因。
What Heisser wondered was whether he could somehow get around this vibrational “snapback” effect. And he found you have to do the twist. Heisser built a device for torquing his pasta with precision and he observed the resulting fragmentation with a high-speed camera. He discovered that introducing a twist of around 360 degrees to the long strand allowed him to produce the desired single pair of pasta pieces.
海瑟想知道他是否能設法繞開這種震動“反彈”效應。而他發現必須要製造扭曲的狀態才可以。海瑟製造了一個裝置用來精確地扭轉他的意大利麵，並用高速攝影機觀察由此產生的碎片。他發現當一長條意麵扭轉到360度時就能製造出他想要的單對意麵段。
That’s where Vishal Patil, a grad student in mathematics at MIT, comes in:
這就是另一個麻省理工數學專業研究生維薩爾·帕蒂爾（Vishal Patil）加入的原因：
“So I first heard about this spaghetti problem from coauthors Ronald Heisser and Professor Jörn Dunkel when I first arrived at MIT…and after hearing about this problem, I became interested in developing mathematical models for the fracture of this elastic rod. And in particular, to see if using this model you could find out ways to control the fracture in the rod.”
“當我來到麻省第一次從合著者羅納德·海瑟和約翰恩·鄧克爾（Jörn Dunkel）教授那裏聽說這個意麵問題的時候，我就對建造這種有彈性麵條折斷時的數學模型非常感興趣，尤其是想利用這種模型找到控製折斷它的方法。”
Controlling fractures is a big issue in materials science and could have applications in everything from the design of highways and bridges to the engineering of nanotubes.
在材料科學上，控製折斷反應是一個大的課題，它有從高速公路設計到納米管的各類工程上的廣泛應用。
Patil’s modeling showed that twisting the spaghetti dampens the snapback effect. That’s because once the twisted stick is broken, it will try to unwind. This rapid unwinding creates a “twisting wave” that basically blocks the vibrational snapback wave, leaving the spaghetti in two clean pieces. The work is served up in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Ronald H. Heisser et al., ]
帕蒂爾的模型顯示，扭轉意麵能抑製回彈反應。這是因為一旦被扭轉的麵條破裂，它就會舒展開。這種迅速的舒展反應製造了能阻斷振動回彈波的“扭轉波”，因此讓意麵利落地斷成兩截。這項研究發表在《國家科學學報》上。
VP: “Although the project was a bit of fun I think it’s quite nice when you can find interesting physics and maths lurking behind everyday, mundane objects.”
維薩爾·帕蒂爾說：“盡管這個研究項目聽著有點不正經，我覺得能從每天的日常生活中發現隱藏的物理和數學現象還是很棒的。”
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