"Eh?" cried Mr. Bagges. "Upon my word! One of these days we shall have you setting the river on fire!"
“嗯?”Bagges先生喊道。“我敢保證!總有一天我們會看到你讓河水著火的!”
"Nothing more easy," said Harry. "When pure hydrogen burns, we get nothing but water. I should like to show you how light this hydrogen is; and I wish I had a small balloon to fill with it and send up to the ceiling; or a pipe full of it to blow soap-bubbles with, and show how much faster they rise than common ones blown with the breath."
“沒有什么比這更容易,”哈利說。“純氫燃燒時,除了水我們什么都不能得到。我想向您展示這氫氣是如何的輕;,我希望我有一個小氣球裝滿它，放到天花板上去,或一段管道充滿它用來吹肥皂泡,并展示他們上升的速度比我們平時呼吸的氣體快多少。”
"So do I," interposed Master Tom.
“我也一樣,”湯姆插話到。
"And so," resumed Harry, "hydrogen, you know, uncle is part of water, and just one-ninth part. The other eight parts are a gas also, called oxygen. This is a very curious gas. It won't burn in air at all itself, like gas from a lamp; but it has a wonderful power of making things burn that are lighted and put into it. A lighted candle put into a jar of oxygen blazes up directly, and is consumed before you can say Jack Robinson. Charcoal burns away in it as fast, with beautiful bright sparks; phosphorus burns with a light that would dazzle you to look at; and a piece of iron or steel, just made red-hot at the end first, may be burned in oxygen more quickly than a stick could be in common air. The experiment of burning things in oxygen beats any fire-works."
“所以“哈利繼續(xù)說,”氫,你知道的,是水的一部分,叔叔,它只是九分之一。其他八份氣體也被稱為氧。這是一個非常奇妙的氣體。它不會在空氣中燃燒本身,像從一盞燈產(chǎn)生的氣體,但它有一個奇妙的力量，讓點燃的東西燃燒并且保持那種狀態(tài)。一根點燃的蠟燭放在一罐氧氣直接燃燒起來,且它在你說完杰克羅賓遜之前就被消耗了。木炭在里面燃燒一樣快,有美麗明亮的火花;磷燃燒的光看會讓你眼花繚亂;一塊鐵或鋼,煉到最后一步已經(jīng)火熱了,在氧中燃燒可能比一根棍子在平常的空氣中更快。在氧氣中的燃燒實驗是打敗任何火中作業(yè)的”。
"How funny that must be!" exclaimed Tom.
“那該多么有趣!”湯姆喊道。
"Now we see, uncle," Harry continued, "that water is hydrogen and oxygen united together; that water is got whenever hydrogen is burned in common air; that a candle won't burn without air; and that when a candle burns, there is hydrogen in it burning and forming water. Now, then, where does the hydrogen of the candle get the oxygen, to turn into water with it?"
“現(xiàn)在我們,叔叔,”哈利繼續(xù)說道,“水是氫和氧聯(lián)合在一起組成,不論何時氫在平常的空氣中燃燒都會生成水,蠟燭沒有空氣不會燃燒,當蠟燭燃燒時,氫會燃燒,形成水。現(xiàn)在,然后,蠟燭里的氫在哪里獲得的氧氣,來變成水?”
"From the air, eh?"
“從空中,嗯?”
"Just so. It is the oxygen in the air that makes things burn; but if the air were noting but oxygen, a candle would not last above a minute.
“只是如此。它是空氣中的氧氣,讓之燃燒;但如果空氣中只有氧氣,蠟燭持續(xù)燃燒不會超過一分鐘。
"If a house were on fire in oxygen,' as Professor Faraday said, 'every iron bar, or, rather, every pillar, every nail and iron tool, and the grate itself; all the zinc and copper roofs, and leaden coverings, and gutters, and pipes, would consume and burn, increasing the combustion."
“如果房子在氧氣里著火了,法拉第教授說,“每一個鐵條,或者更確切地說,每一個支柱,每個指甲和鐵工具,和爐篦本身;所有的鋅和銅屋頂,鉛灰色的覆蓋物,排水溝,管道,都將消耗和燃燒,提高氧化。”
"That would be, indeed, 'burning like a house on fire,'" observed Mr. Bagges.
“確實是,事實上,燃燒就像是房子著火了,”Bagges先生評述到。”
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