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世界上最危险的化学品

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Germany, 1939 In a secret bunker on the German-Polish border,

德国 1939 在德国和波兰边境接壤处的一个秘密掩体里
Nazi agents were overseeing the production of a recently discovered chemical they'd code-named "Substance N."
纳粹间谍正在监督生产一种新发现的化学物质 他们给它的代号是“物质N”
It boiled when they exposed it to air. It exploded when it touched water, it was lethal when inhaled,
这种物质暴露在空气中时会沸腾 接触水时会爆炸 被吸入时会致死
and when it decomposed it spit out deadly hydrofluoric acid.
分解时会释放致命的氢氟酸
When loaded into a flamethrower and ignited it could burn at temperatures over 2400°C.
被装进喷火器里点燃时 它燃烧的温度超过2400℃
The plan was to arm troops with "Substance N" and use it to melt allied bunkers into hot porridge.
计划是打算用“物质N”来武装军队 然后用它把联军的掩体熔成一锅热粥
But then after studying it for a while even the German soldiers were like "Whoa."
但在研究了一段时间后 即使是德国士兵也忍不住感叹“哇哦”
Experiments with "Substance N" were discontinued because the Nazis decided it was too dangerous to work with.
“物质N”的实验被暂停了 因为纳粹认为它用起来实在是太危险了
Should give you some kind of sense of what we're dealing with here when we talk about the most dangerous chemicals in the world.
你会对这些危险的东西有一个大概的认识 在我们讨论世界上最危险的化学品的时候
I'm talking about things that explode when you touch them,
我在讲的东西 有的一碰就会爆炸
things so poisonous that if even a millionth of a gram went up your nose, it would end up killing you,
有的毒性极强 即使你只吸入了百万分之一克也会丧命
things that could even disable you because of their totally, debilitatingly, horrifying smell,
有的气味如此强烈 使人虚弱 令人恐惧 甚至会使你致残
and yes, chemicals so severe, that even the Nazis thought they were crazy.
而且真的 这些化学物质如此危险 连纳粹都认为它们可怕
Let's start with what the Germans had in that secret weapons bunker.
让我们从德国人在秘密武器掩体中试验的那种物质开始
They originally planned to produce 90 tons of the stuff every month, but only made about 30 tons throughout the whole war.
一开始他们打算每个月生产90吨 但最后整个二战期间他们也只制造了大约30吨
What they'd concocted was chlorine trifluoride, the most vigorous fluorinating agent known to humanity.
他们制造出的这种物质是三氟化氯 人类所知的最剧烈的氟化剂
Fluorinating agents rip other molecules apart to replace their hydrogen atoms with fluorine.
氟化剂会打破分子结构 然后用氟取代原来的氢原子
the result is what chemists called a 'violently exothermic reaction', in this case known as a fluorine fire.
产生的结果被化学家称为“剧烈的放热反应” 也就是氟火
It's much more dangerous to handle than even fluorine gas, which as anyone with a degree in chemistry could tell you
氟火处理起来 甚至比氟气还要危险得多 任何有化学学位的人都会如此告诉你
is not a sentence that you get to say very often.
当然这句话他们不会有机会经常讲
It's also a better oxidizer than oxygen.
氟也是比氧更好的氧化剂
Oxidizers are compounds that steal electrons from other chemicals in a reaction and they are what make combustion possible.
氧化剂是一种化合物 它在氧化反应中会从别的化学物质中偷取电子 它们也是燃烧的必要条件
Chlorine trifluoride is so good at this, that it can burn stuff that same people might think of as non flammable,
三氟化氯则厉害到会让常人看来无法起火的东西烧起来
like bricks or asbestos or things that have already been burned.
比如砖块 石棉或者其他已经燃烧过了的东西
Oxidizers are also used to ignite rocket fuel and in the very short time
氧化剂也常被用来为火箭燃料点火 曾有很短一段时间
that US rocket scientists thought about using this stuff as a propellant,
美国的火箭专家们还考虑用它来做推进剂
they quickly learned that this idea was bad.
但马上他们就意识到这个想法不可取
And the early 1950s, the first time that US scientists tried to ship chlorine trifluoride in bulk.
20世纪50年代初 美国科学家首次尝试大量运输三氟化氯
The steel tank cracked and a full ton of it spilled out.
结果钢罐爆裂 整整一吨三氯化氟溢出去
It burned so hot that the chemical ate through an entire concrete floor and then a meter of dirt and gravel beneath that.
燃烧温度非常之高以致于“吃掉”了一整层混凝土地面 以及底下一米深的泥土和碎石
One eye-witness described the spill only by saying "The concrete...was on fire!"
一名目击者形容这场溢出事故时 只说了一句话 混凝土……烧起来了
Chlorine trifluoride is still manufactured and is used by semi-conductor companies to clean their equipment to within an inch of its life.
如今三氟化氯还在生产并被半导体公司用来清洁设备 以极其小心的方式
The good news is that you can store it safely in a regular steel drum as long as it's air-tight and you're really, really careful,
好消息是 人们还是能用常规的钢桶把它安全地储存起来 前提是必须密封 而且你得非常 非常小心
because, it instantly scorches the inside lining of the container leaving behind a nonreactive plating of metallic.fluoride.
因为它会马上烧焦容器的内侧 然后剩下一层不反应的金属氟化物电镀薄膜
Nonreactive is not a word that we're gonna need when discussing the next chemical on our list.
接下来我们要讨论的化学物 “不反应”这词是用不到了
"Azidoazide azide", the most explosive chemical compound ever created.
叠氮化物 史上最易爆炸的人造化合物
This twitchy little compound is a part of a class of chemicals known as "High nitrogen energetic materials."
这极不稳定的小东西属于一类被称为 “高氮能物质”的化学品
And it does what it does because nitrogen just wants to be left alone.
它做自己该做的事 因为氮只想独处
A nitrogen atom bonded with another nitrogen atom is one of the most stable molecules on earth.
两个氮原子结合组成的分子是世界上最稳定的分子之一
Their electrons form an extremely strong triple bond with each other,
它们的电子形成了一个极强的三价键
which, in nature can usually only be broken by a molecule being hit by lightning.
在自然界中 通常只有在分子被闪电击中时才会被破坏
The strength of that bond means that when two nitrogen atoms snap together, they release a tremendous amount of energy.
这样的强度意味着当两个氮原子结合在一起时 会释放巨大的能量
So if you look in a molecule of AA.. We're gonna call it AA cause Azidoazide Azide is hard.
所以如果你观察AA分子 我们简称它为AA 因为Azidoazide Azide太难念了
You can see how it gets its bang.
你可以看到它是如何爆炸的
It has 14 nitrogen atoms and because of the way the molecule was structured, none of them are in a triple bond.
它有14个氮原子 由于其特殊的分子结构 没有一个原子处在三价键中
Instead, they're stuck in a loosely bound high-energy state and are dying to move to a more stable lower energy state,
相反 它们处于一种松散约束的高能量状态 并且极其容易向更稳定的低能量状态转变
which means releasing a lot of pent-up energy in the process.
这就意味着在这个过程中它们会释放大量封存的能量
As a result, AA is both highly reactive and heck-a explosive.
结果就是 AA高度不稳定 而且非常容易爆炸
How sensitive is this stuff? Well, it's actually hard to say,
这玩意儿有多敏感? 实在不好说
because it's too sensitive, even to measure how sensitive it is.
因为它太敏感了 以致于人们都无法测量它到底有多敏感
A team of German chemists created it in 2010 with the help of the US army, in an effort to develop more energetic compounds.
2010年在美国军方的协助下 德国化学家把它造了出来 意在发展更多高能化合物
And their first report on the discovery, they said,
在他们第一次报告这个发现时 他们说
and I quote, "The sensitivity of C2N14 is beyond our capabilities of measurement...
我来引用一下 “C2N14s太敏感了 已经超出我们的测量能力…
even the smallest possible loadings in shock & friction-tests led to explosive decomposition."
即使尽可能地将载荷调到最小 在抗震和摩擦实验中 它还是会分解爆炸”
To give you a list of how touchy this stuff is,
来列个单子说明它有多敏感
here's a list of things that make Azidoazide explode:
以下是可以让AA爆炸的原因:
moving it, touching it, dispersing it in solution, leaving it undisturbed on a glass plate,
移动 触摸 放入溶液 静置于玻璃盘
exposing it to bright light, exposing it to x-rays, putting it in a spectrometer,
暴露于强光 暴露于X射线 放入光谱仪
turning on the spectrometer, and my favourite: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!
打开光谱仪 以及我个人最喜欢的:无缘无故!
They had it in a shock-proof explosive case, in a dark climate controlled room... and it blew up!
他们把它置于抗震爆炸箱中 放在恒温恒湿的暗室里…… 它还是爆炸了!
I think somebody said something mean about it somewhere, and it was like:
我想有人说了它的坏话 是像这样说的
The lead scientists on the team that synthesized it called it: "A very exciting discovery."
合成团队中的首席科学家们称它为“一项非常令人振奋的发现”
If I worked with Azidoazide Azide, waking up every morning,
如果我研究叠氮化物 每天早上醒来
and seeing that I still had all my fingers would be a very exciting discovery.
发现自己手指都还健在的话 那倒是一项令人振奋的发现
Next up, let's talk about Dimethylcadmium. This is an organometallic compound,
接下来 让我们聊聊二甲基镉 这是一种有机金属化合物
which means that it has a molecule in which carbon has bonded with a metal.
这意味着 它有一个碳与金属结合的分子
In this case, that metal is Cadmium, a pretty nasty customer all on its own.
在这里 金属即是镉 这是个很让人讨厌的自以为是的家伙
So far we've talked about chemicals that explode or cover everything in unquenchable fire.
目前为止 我们讲的化学品是会爆炸的 或是会让一切陷入火海的

世界上最危险的化学品

And don't get me wrong; Dimethylcadmium, it does that too.

不要误会我(我没有要讲其它不同的东西) 二甲基镉也是会干这些事情的
But that is not what makes it so dangerous.
但这不是它的最危险之处
It is, in all likelihood, gram-for-gram the most toxic chemical in the world.
从综合实力来说 它可能是世界上最毒的化学物
It has both acute and chronic effects, which means it will kill you now AND later.
它有急性效应 也有慢性效应 也就是说 它可以让你马上丧命 也可以让你慢慢赴死
It was first prepared by a pioneer of metal organic chemistry.
一位金属有机化学的先驱发现了它
A fellow named Erich Krause who was from, yes, Germany.
他叫埃里希·克劳斯 是的 他也是德国人
It was 1917. To give you a sense of how Krause rolled,
当时是1917年 克劳斯的一生简单来说是这样
he died in his lab at the age of 37 after accidentally inhaling a bunch of chlorine,
37岁时 他因意外吸入了一些氯气而死于自己的实验室
but before that happened he managed to report his discovery of Dimethylcadmium.
但死之前 他尽力报告了二甲基镉这一发现
When you breathe it in, it is absorbed instantly into your bloodstream,
当你吸入这种物质 它会立马进入到你的血液中
where it basically serves as a kind of chemical chauffeur for toxic compounds of cadmium to travel all around your body.
在那里 它就像个化学司机 把有毒的镉化物 运送到你全身
Because it's so effective at exploiting your bloodstreamt,
它如此高效率地利用了你的血液循环系统
it quickly effects your most blood-infused organs, like lungs and your kidneys and liver,
很快就感染了你血液流入最多的那些器官 比如肺 肾 肝
creating compounds that rip electrons off the atoms of your cells.
制造化合物夺取你细胞中原子的电子
But if you manage to survive your first few hours after Dimethylcadmium exposure,
但如果你吸入二甲基镉后 在最初的几个小时里努力存活下来了
don't get your hopes up. It's also extremely carcinogenic.
别抱太大希望 它还有高度致癌性
So it will take you down with cancer just to spite you.
所以它将用癌症来刁难你打倒你
This stuff is so potent that, as an airborne vapor,
这东西非常强大 作为一种可以利用空气传播的气体
just a few millionths of a gram per cubic meter of air meets the legal safety limits.
每立方米空气中有百万分之几克 就是法定安全上限
But if you spill it, how are you going to clean it up? Water?
但是如果不慎溢出 你将怎么清理? 用水吗?
Well, when it reacts with water it produces both lots of heat and lots of hydrogen gas,
当它与水发生反应 会产生大量的热和氢气
which is flammable so, yeah, it explodes in water.
氢气是可燃的 所以 是的 它会在水中爆炸
Maybe you could sweep it up? Eeuhh …friction makes it ignite.
也许你可以把它扫掉? 可是……摩擦会让它起火
Might wanna just try waiting for it to decompose? Well, it will do that.
或许你想就这样等着它分解? 好吧 它确实会分解
It'll form a crust of dimethyl cadmium peroxide, which is a friction-sensitive explosive.
但会生成一层二甲基镉过氧化氢 一种摩擦即燃的爆炸物
So you're just one shoe-scuff away from "KABLAMMO." And on top of it all,
所以你与“轰!”之间只有一步之遥 除此之外
the chemical has an odor that has been described as foul, unpleasant, metallic, and disagreeable.
这东西有股金属的恶臭味 会令人恶心不愉快
But that's nothing compared to our next chemical: Thioacetone.
但跟下一个化学物相比 这种气味根本不值一提 丙硫酮
It won't explode, or start fires, or even give you cancer.
它不会爆炸 不会起火 也不会毒到令你致癌
Compared to other chemicals on the list it's like a cute little fluffy bunny.
与其它我们介绍的化学物比起来 它就像一只可爱的毛茸茸的兔子
If that cute little fluffy bunny had the MOST UNGODLY STINK YOU CAN IMAGINE.
但是这只可爱的毛茸茸的兔子会散发出你无法想象的最恶心的恶臭
That's right, Thioacetone takes the prize for The World's Smelliest Chemical.
没错 丙硫酮拥有“世界最臭化学物”的殊荣
It's a thiol, an organic compound in which a carbon atom is bonded to a sulfur-hydrogen pair. They're all gross.
它属于硫醇 是一种碳原子和硫氢基结合的有机化合物 它们都很恶心
A skunk's spray uses two different thiols to eye-watering effect.
臭鼬的喷出物用两种不同的硫醇达到让人流泪的效果
Most sulfur-containing compounds are released by rotting meat,
大多数的含硫化合物是由腐烂的肉类释放的
which is a reason why we would want to be very good at being able to detect them
这是我们想要很好地探测到它们
and also not think that it smells...Good
并且不愿意去想像这种气味的原因之一……
But when it comes to bad smells, thioacetone takes the stinky, seriously unappetizing cake.
但是说回臭味 丙硫酮的恶臭和让人反胃可以排第一
You can smell one drop of this substance, almost instantly, from half a kilometer away.
只要一滴 你从半公里之外马上可以闻到
In the 1960s a vial of the stuff fell off a shelf in a research lab,
20世纪60年代 一小瓶这东西从实验室架子上掉了下来
people were chucking their cookies in buildings 200 meters away.
200米开外的建筑里的人们都将他们的饼干丢掉了
But the greatest example of thioacetone's silent-but-deadly strength comes from the German city of Freiburg,
关于丙硫酮沉默却要命的力量 最佳例子来自德国弗莱堡市
where in 1889 chemists at a soap factory were, reportedly, working on a larger molecule,
那是1889年 据记载一家肥皂厂的化学人员正研究一种
known as tri-thioacetone, which is used as a flavoring and a fragrance.
叫做“三聚硫酮”的大分子 以作为调料和香味剂
But, when they broke it apart into thioacetone, workers started falling ill.
但是 当他们把它分解成丙硫酮时 工人们开始生病
Spontaneous outbreaks of vomiting were reported in the surrounding neighborhoods.
报道说邻近区域的人们不约而同地都爆发了呕吐
It led to the evacuation of the whole city.
最终整座城市都被疏散
There might be a lot to learn about thioacetone and thiols in general,
也许关于丙硫酮和硫基有很多东西可以研究
but, understandably, scientists are not really rushing to look into it.
但是科学家们并不急着去钻研 这倒也很容易理解
And finally, there's the strongest corrosive agent in the world.
最后 是世界上最具腐蚀性的化学剂
The most dangerous acid ever devised by humanity, Fluoroantimonic acid.
人类所制造出来的最危险的酸 氟锑酸
Because what list of dangerous chemicals would be complete without a super acid.
危险化学物的清单怎么可能完整呢 如果没有超级酸的话
What makes an acid an acid is its ability to donate a proton to another molecule nearby it.
所谓酸 即是它能给它旁边的分子一个质子
And a proton is just a hydrogen atom that's lost its electron. This process is called Protonation.
而这个质子只是一个失去了电子的氢原子 这个过程叫做质子化作用
And an acid's strength is determined by how willing it is to give up that proton.
而酸的强度取决于它给出这个质子的容易度
A weak acid, acetic acid for example, which is just the undiluted form of vinegar,
弱酸 比如醋酸 只是一种未稀释的醋
will drag its feet about protonating other molecules.
它在质子化别的分子时 显得非常艰难
Most of it will just sit there doing nothing,
因为它大部分的分子压根不动
but a strong acid like sulfuric acid'll punch that proton in the air like a beach volleyball at spring break.
但像硫酸这样的强酸 会把质子打进空气 就像春假里的沙滩排球
And remember from Substance N how crazy fluorine is.
回想一下“物质N” 我们就知道氟有多疯狂
Well, fluoroantimonic acid is ten quadrillion times stronger than sulfuric acid.
这么说吧 氟锑酸的强度是硫酸的万万亿倍
This molecule is begging for an excuse to fly apart.
这个分子迫不及待地想要把质子喷出去
Once it's lost its hydrogen atoms, the remaining atoms of fluorine and another element, antimony,
一旦它失去了它的氢原子 剩下的氟原子和锑原子
tear through everything else around them, ripping electrons off nearby molecules and leaving just organic goo in their wake.
就会穿透周围的任何物质 抢夺附近分子的电子 身后只留下一堆黏糊糊的有机物
Especially exciting is that fluorine really likes to bond with calcium.
特别值得一提的是氟很喜欢与钙结合
So once the acid tears through the fatty organic tissues of your skin and muscles
所以一旦氟锑酸腐蚀透你皮肤和肌肉的脂肪组织
the fluorine will burn through your bones.
它的氟分子接着会烧透你的骨骼
The only way to store fluoroantimonic acid is in Teflon containers.
储存氟锑酸的唯一方法是使用聚四氟乙烯容器
Teflon, by the way, is held together by carbon-fluorine bonds,
顺便说一下 聚四氟乙烯是靠碳氟键聚合起来的
which are the single strongest bond in organic chemistry.
这是有机化学里最牢固的键 没有之一
We don't actually know a lot about this acid because it's so hard to do experiments with it.
事实上 我们对这个酸知之甚少 因为用它做实验太困难了
You can't put it in a syringe or on a slide. It eats through glass like it's cotton candy.
你无法将它放入注射器或者放在玻璃片上 它吃起玻璃就像吃棉花糖
You can't put it under a fume hood - it'll eat the fume hood.
你也不能把它放在实验室通风柜下 它会吃了通风柜
All you can really do is, just like, look at it. Ideally from...very far away.
所以你真正能做的 似乎 只有看着它 当然最好是从……很远的地方
Thank you for watching this particularly dangerous SciShow infusion.
感谢观看本期“特别危险的”科学秀节目
Thank you especially to our Subbable subscribers who help us make this show for them.
特别要谢谢我们在Subbable上的捐赠者 他们帮助制作了本期节目
And for everyone else, to find out how you can support us you can go to subbable.com.
为他们也为所有人 如果想要支持我们 请登录subbable.com
And if you want to keep getting smarter with us? Just go to youtube.com/scishow and subscribe.
如果你想跟我们一起越变越聪明 只需登录youtube.com/scishow并订阅即可

重点单词   查看全部解释    
punch [pʌntʃ]

想一想再看

n. 打洞器,钻孔机,殴打
n. (酒、水、糖

联想记忆
soap [səup]

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n. 肥皂
vt. 用肥皂洗,阿谀奉承

 
measurement ['meʒəmənt]

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n. 测量,衡量,尺寸,大小

 
willing ['wiliŋ]

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adj. 愿意的,心甘情愿的

 
quote [kwəut]

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n. 引用
v. 引述,举证,报价

联想记忆
melt [melt]

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vi. 融化,熔化,消散
vt. 使融化,使熔

 
fragrance ['freigrəns]

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n. 香味

 
bond [bɔnd]

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n. 债券,结合,粘结剂,粘合剂
vt. 使结

 
spill [spil]

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v. 溢出,洒,使 ... 流出,泄漏
n.

 
sensitive ['sensitiv]

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adj. 敏感的,灵敏的,易受伤害的,感光的,善解人意的

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