評論
打印
Anchors away, me boys-but how far?
拋錨了，錨究竟該拋多遠呢？
On this moment of science.
又到了“科學一刻“的時間了。
What happens if you throw your anchor overboard and there isn't enough chain to reachthe bottom?
如果你將錨拋出船外，但錨還不夠長，沒法觸底固定，
Does the anchor haul you down with it?
那么錨會把船拖下水嗎？
This sounds a little bit like something that would happen in a cartoon.
這聽起來像是動畫片里才能看到場景，
But for sailors it's nolaughing matter.
但對水手來說可不是開玩笑。
It's unlikely the whole ship would be pulled under, but there could very well be damage to the hull caused by not having enough chain-including a sudden hole where the anchor used to be.
發生這種情況時，整艘船被拖下水可能性不大，但船體很有可能受到大的破壞，比如船上原本固定錨的地方會被突然扯出一個洞。
That's why the nautical rule of thumb is to use three times as much chain as is needed to hit bottom.
所以，對于航海有條黃金法則：使用比觸底所需的長度長兩倍的錨。
That extra chain piles up around the anchor and provides added stability.
多余部分的錨鏈會在固定錨的周圍盤起，從而加強船的穩定性。
Still, what if you don't know how deep the water is?
但要是不知道水有多深，
Or what if you just make a mistake?
或者不小心失誤了怎么辦？
The navy has prepared for this by building what is called a “weak link” into their anchor chains.
為了解決這個問題，海軍設計了有“弱環”鏈接的錨鏈。
The weak link is the last link in the chain, and while it's strong enough to hold together in general,it's weak enough to break if the whole weight of the anchor and chain is put on it.
弱環是錨鏈的最后一環，通常它可以緊扣錨鏈，在受到整條錨鏈的重力時才會斷裂，
The weak link there is as a safety valve.
就像一個安全閥門。
Because it's the very last link, under normal circumstances it never getsplayed out at all; you always want to have some chain left on the ship.
正因為它是整條錨鏈的最后一環，一般根本受不到力，因為總有一部分鏈條還留在船上。
But, if the anchor is still zooming down full speed at the point where the entire chain runs out, the abrupt jerk will cause that link to snap.
但要是在整條錨鏈已完全拋出，錨還在急速下降，猛然的拉動還是會扯斷弱環。
Without the safety valve of the weak link, sailors might routinely drop more than their anchors.
如果沒有弱環作為安全閥，恐怕被拋入水底的就是那些水手了。
