13 一些数字(3)

Fine, captain, but now we come to a genuine difficulty. You're able to lie flush with the surface of the ocean, that I understand.

对,船长,可是这里有实际的困难。这样,您可以使船面跟洋面一致,我可以理解。

But lower down, while diving beneath that surface, isn't your submersible going to encounter a pressure, and consequently undergo an upward thrust, that must be assessed at one atmosphere per every thirty feet of water, hence at about one kilogram per each square centimeter?

但是,再向下沉,潜入水面以下,您的潜水机器不是碰到一种压力吗?碰到一种由下而上的浮力吗?这种力是以三十英尺高的水柱压力即一个大气压力为计算标准的,也就是说,每一平方厘米所受的力约为一公斤。

Precisely, sir.

对,先生。

Then unless you fill up the whole Nautilus, I don't see how you can force it down into the heart of these liquid masses.

所以,只有您把诺第留斯号全部装满了水,否则,我不明白您是怎样把船潜到海底下去。

Professor, Captain Nemo replied, static objects mustn't be confused with dynamic ones, or we'll be open to serious error.

教授,尼摩船长回答,不应当把静力学和动力学混:淆起来,不然的话,就要发生严重的错误。

Comparatively little effort is spent in reaching the ocean's lower regions, because all objects have a tendency to become 'sinkers.' Follow my logic here.

到达海洋的下层,实际不用费很大的力量,因为凡物体都有下沉到底的倾向。请您听我的推论吧。

I'm all ears, captain.

船长,我静听着您的话。

When I wanted to determine what increase in weight the Nautilus needed to be given in order to submerge, I had only to take note of the proportionate reduction in volume that salt water experiences in deeper and deeper strata.

要船潜入水底,就必需增加重量,当我决定增加时,我只须注意海水体积在不同深度中的压缩数量就成了。

That's obvious, I replied.

当然。我回答。

Now then, if water isn't absolutely incompressible, at least it compresses very little.

可是,水虽不是绝对不可压缩,但至少是很难压缩。

In fact, according to the most recent calculations, this reduction is only .0000436 per atmosphere, or per every thirty feet of depth. For instance, to go 1,000 meters down, I must take into account the reduction in volume that occurs under a pressure equivalent to that from a 1,000-meter column of water, in other words, under a pressure of 100 atmospheres. In this instance the reduction would be 00436.

是这样,根据最近的计算,每一大气压(即三十英尺高的水柱压力)下,这种压缩数量是一千万分之四百三十六。比方要到一,千米深的水层,我这时要注意的就是海水在一千米:的压力下,即一百大气压的压力下它的体积的压缩数量。这个数量为十万分之四百三十六。

Consequently, I'd have to increase my weight from 1,507.2 metric tons to 1,513.77.

所以我这时应增加到的总重量,不是,一千五百零七点二吨,而是一千五百十三点七七吨。

So the added weight would only be 6.57 metric tons.

因此,增加的重量数是六点五七吨。