花百萬(wàn)英鎊的囧研究：木星炸薯?xiàng)l最好吃！

Some scientists struggle to observe the most distant stars, while others have spent decades calculating the probability that habitable planets exist elsewhere in our galaxy. For a pair of Greek researchers, there was a more pressing problem: is it possible to cook chips in space?

有些科學(xué)家致力于觀測(cè)最遠(yuǎn)的星球，有些科學(xué)家花費(fèi)數(shù)十年時(shí)間思考在銀河系內(nèi)其他星球定居的可能性，而對(duì)于這群希臘研究者來說，他們思考的問題更為棘手：人類可以在太空里炸薯?xiàng)l嗎？

The team, from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, have confirmed that chips can be fried — quicker and crunchier, in fact — at three times the normal gravitational force, in conditions equivalent to those on Jupiter.

這支來自亞里士多德大學(xué)的研究隊(duì)伍研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在太空里炸薯?xiàng)l是可行的，而且更酥脆，炸熟也更快——如果你是在三倍于地球的引力環(huán)境中炸薯?xiàng)l的話，比如在木星上。

However, achieving a pleasingly crispy exterior may be more challenging in the reduced gravity conditions on Mars or the Moon, they predict. Thodoris Karapantsios, a chemical engineer who led the study funded by the European Space Agency, devised a hyper-gravity simulator for chips by building a rotating industrial fryer capable of producing centrifugal forces equivalent to nine times the Earth's gravity.

然而專家們預(yù)測(cè)，在火星或月球這樣的低引力環(huán)境中，找到適宜炸出酥脆薯?xiàng)l的環(huán)境就有點(diǎn)困難了。化學(xué)工程師索佐瑞斯·卡拉帕特希奧斯是這個(gè)由歐洲太空總署資助的研究項(xiàng)目的領(lǐng)頭人，他建造了一臺(tái)能夠產(chǎn)生高達(dá)地球引力9倍的高引力的旋轉(zhuǎn)工業(yè)油炸鍋，通過這臺(tái)超引力模擬器來炸薯?xiàng)l。

In normal conditions, bubbles form in the potato as it fries, which move to the surface because of gravitational forces once they reach a critical size. This process happens more quickly in high-gravity conditions, improving the rate that heat is transferred from the oil to the potato.

在通常情況下，被油炸膨脹的薯?xiàng)l受到的引力作用減少，會(huì)漂浮到油鍋表面，漂浮的薯?xiàng)l之間亦會(huì)出現(xiàn)氣泡。在高引力環(huán)境下，熱量從油傳遞到土豆條的速度更快，薯?xiàng)l漂浮到表面的速度也就更快。

In 3g conditions the potato fried twice as quickly as usual and its crust reached its maximum thickness. Any further increase in gravity levels did not improve the chip'scrispness, the researchers found, leading to the conclusion that Jupiter is probably the most efficient place in the solar system to make chips （aside from the fuel required to get there）。

在3倍引力的作用下，薯?xiàng)l炸熟的速度比一般情況下要快一倍，薯?xiàng)l表面的酥皮也達(dá)到了最厚的厚度。研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)，如果在3倍引力的基礎(chǔ)上繼續(xù)增加引力，則對(duì)薯?xiàng)l的酥脆程度無益。由此可以得出結(jié)論，木星很可能是太陽(yáng)系中最適合炸薯?xiàng)l的宇宙環(huán)境（如果不考慮為了到達(dá)火星而需要消耗的燃料的話）。

In a taste experiment, student volunteers were unable to tell the difference between normal and the hyper-gravity chips.

在一項(xiàng)口感實(shí)驗(yàn)中，參加實(shí)驗(yàn)的學(xué)生們未能分辨出普通薯?xiàng)l和高引力環(huán)境炸出的薯?xiàng)l之間的區(qū)別。

The next step will be to rerun the experiment in low-gravity conditions.

下一步，研究者們將在低引力的太空環(huán)境中再次進(jìn)行實(shí)驗(yàn)。

Professor Karapantsios predicts that the chips are likely to be unpleasantly soggy. In zero gravity there is no force causing the air bubbles to detach from the chip.

卡拉帕特希奧斯教授預(yù)測(cè)，低引力環(huán)境下炸出的薯?xiàng)l會(huì)不夠酥脆。在零重力條件下，土豆條中的空氣氣泡根本無法排出。