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You're out on the golf course one pleasant afternoon.
在一個舒適的下午，你站在高爾夫球場上。
Your ball is set on the tee.
把球在球托上放好，
You lean overthe ball.
身體傾斜到球的上方，
You grip the club just right.
握好球桿。
Your arms are straight. Your stance perfect. Whoosh!
呼地一聲！你揮桿了，高爾夫球飛了起來，
You swing, and the ball takes off toward the green, sailing in a beautiful arc–almost as if it's weightless.
奔向綠地，劃出一道優美的弧線，輕盈得似乎沒有重量。
Your impeccable technique certainly has a lot to do with the success of that drive, but you got amajor assist from the little dimples on the golf ball-and they're the subject of this Moment ofScience.
這一桿的成功當然和你完美的技術密不可分，但高爾夫球上的那些小窩也幫了你的大忙，它們就是本期《科學一刻》的主題。
Combined with the proper spin, the dimples help keep the ball in the air longer, and here's how.
如果加上適當的旋轉，這些小窩可以幫助高爾夫球在空中停留更長時間，原因如下。
Your picture-perfect swing puts back spin on the ball.
你完美的揮桿動作使球向后旋轉。
The dimples trap a layer of air next to theball, and this layer spins with the ball.
球上的小窩吸附了周圍薄薄的一層空氣，這層空氣會與球一塊旋轉。
The air being dragged across the top of the spinning ball moves in the same direction as the airthat's rushing past.
球所吸附的這層空氣轉到球的上方時，它的運動方向與周圍空氣流動方向一致。
As the air spinning with the ball comes around the bottom it is moving in theopposite direction from the air on top, and therefore against the onrushing air.
而這層空氣到球下方的時候，它的運動方向與上方空氣相反，因此與周圍氣流相抵。
Consequently it'sslower than the air on top.
這樣就使得下方的空氣的速度比上方的要慢。
A slow moving air stream has higher pressure than a fast moving air stream.
速度慢的氣流壓強較大，速度快的氣流壓強較小。
So, the higherpressure on the bottom of the ball is going to hold the ball up longer.
因此，球底部較高的氣壓可以把球向上托使它在空中駐留更長時間。
The effect of the dimples is so significant that a drive of two-hundred yards hit with a dimpled golf ball, would be shortened with a non-dimpled ball to about one hundred yards.
這些小窩的作用是十分重要的，同樣的一桿，如果可以把有小窩的高爾夫球擊出200碼，那它只能把沒有小窩的球擊出大約100碼。
