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From the way it's marketed, you'd think activated charcoal was some kind of miracle powder.
从其宣传方式来看，你会觉得活性炭是某种神奇的粉末。
It's best known as a treatment for poisoning,
它作为一种解毒治疗良药为人所知，
like if a kid accidentally swallowed some cleaning supplies, or for filtering water.
比如，如果一个小孩不小心吞服了一些清洁用品或用于过滤水。
But activated charcoal has made its way into all kinds of stuff, like teeth whitening products,
但活性炭还可以用于各种东西，比如牙齿美白产品、
cosmetics, and that black ice cream from your Instagram feed last summer.
化妆品以及去年夏天风靡Instagram的黑色冰淇淋。
Now, I hate to break it to you, but it's probably not the magical health supplement that some people claim it is.
虽然我不想扫你的兴，但活性炭真的不是什么所谓的疗效神奇的健康产品。
Charcoal is a black residue that forms after you burn something with a lot of carbon in it, like coal or coconut shells.
木炭一种黑色的残渣，燃烧含有碳的东西之后就会形成这种物质，比如煤或椰子壳。
To make activated charcoal, also known as activated carbon, you treat charcoal with heat and oxygen,
要制作活性炭（也称为activated charcoal），就要用氧燃烧木炭，
or with certain acids and bases.
或是加入某种酸和酸碱。
These chemical reactions can rearrange the carbon atoms to form lots of tiny pores.
这些化学反应能够重新排列碳原子并形成大量微孔。
So activated charcoal has a huge surface area.
所以，活性炭有一个巨大的表面面积。
In fact, just one gram of it can have from 500 to 1500 square meters of surface area.
事实上，仅一克的活性炭就有500-1500平方米的表面面积。
That's as much as a globe more than four stories tall!
就像是13层多高的球体！
And that lets it trap certain molecules really well, through a process called adsorption.
通过一种被称为吸附的过程，活性炭能够很好的锁住分子。
Now, I'm not talking about absorption,
现在我们不是在讨论吸附——
where chemicals get trapped inside something, like water soaking into a rag.
吸附时化学品被困在里边，就像是渗入碎布中的水一样。
Adsorption means molecules bind to the surface of another compound,
吸附意味着分子捆绑在另一种化合物的表面，
like the carbon-lined pores in activated charcoal.
比如活性炭中的衬碳气孔。
The molecules bind because of Van der Waals forces, the weak attractive force between uncharged molecules.
由于范德华引力，分子能够捆绑，范德华引力是中性分子之间微弱的引力。
Basically, depending on where the electrons are,
这主要取决于电子的位置，
one side of a molecule might be more electrically charged than the other,
分子的一面可能比另一面带电更多，
even if the molecule doesn't have an overall charge.
即使分子不带有总电荷。
So when a molecule passes through the tiny pores in the activated charcoal,
所以当分子通过活性炭中的微孔时，
those very weak charges make it cling to the carbon thanks to Van der Waals forces.
多亏了范德华引力，微弱的电荷才能依附在碳上。
Activated charcoal is good at collecting molecules that contain carbon, like most poisons,
活性炭擅于收集含有碳的分子，如多数毒物，
because they're usually large enough and have enough electrons to have stronger Van der Waals interactions.
因为通常它们体积大且有足够的电子能够产生更强的范德瓦耳斯相互作用。
But it can adsorb other molecules, too, like iodine.
但活性炭还能吸收其他分子，比如碘。
And because activated charcoal has such a large surface area,
因为活性炭的表面面积宽广，
there are plenty of places for poison molecules to bond.
因此这为毒素分子的结合提供空间。
Then, the charcoal passes harmlessly through your digestive tract instead of getting sucked into your body,
木炭穿过你的消化道时，不会带来任何伤害，也不会被卷入你的身体之中，
so the poison can't spread and mess things up. Which is always a plus.
所以毒素不会扩散也不会误事。这倒是个加分项。
Plenty of studies have been done about it binding poisons in humans or toxins in a water treatment plant,
对人体内捆绑毒素或水处理厂中的毒素的研究有很多，
so there's no doubt that it works for those things.
所以毫无疑问，活性炭在这些方面还是有用的。
But people have also claimed it can help with hangovers, whiten your teeth, reduce gas in your intestines,
但人们也说活性炭能够帮助缓解宿醉、美白牙齿、减少你肠道内的气体
and purify mysterious toxins that supposedly build up in your body during normal life.
以及净化神秘毒素——那些本应该在你体内聚集的毒素。
And the evidence there is...less clear.
而相关证据却...模糊不清。
Some people claim to get whiter teeth from activated charcoal toothpaste, but no one's done research on it yet.
一些人称活性炭牙膏能够美白你的牙齿，但还没人做过研究。
There are also contradictory results about whether it can help with gas by binding to molecules that contain sulfur.
关于活性炭能够通过捆绑含硫磺的分子帮助缓解气体这种说法有着相矛盾的结果。
And there's no evidence that it'll adsorb alcohol or help with hangovers.
没有证据能够表明，活性炭能吸收酒精或缓解宿醉。
So activated charcoal is definitely safe to eat, and might be great for some things...
因此活性炭食用绝对安全，或许在某方面起到很好的作用...
but any miraculous health benefits from eating a black burger bun are probably too good to be true.
但食用黑色小圆包有益健康，就有些神乎其神了。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow!
感谢收看本期科学秀！
And special thanks to patreon on Patron Brianna Beecher for asking,
特别感谢Patron赞助人Brianna Beecher的提问，
and all our other patrons who voted to have it answered.
也谢谢所有参与投票的各位。
If you'd like to submit a question, you can go to patreon.com/scishow.
如果你想提问，请登录patreon.com/scishow。
