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Engineering Students Use Sound Waves To Extinguish Fires
工科男利用声波灭火
Water, foam, sand, blankets, and even baking soda are well-known solutions to putting out flames. But sound waves? That has to be a first. But that is exactly what two young engineers from George Mason University are using to douse small fires.
洒水、泡沫、沙土、毛毯甚至发酵粉都是常见的灭火方法，但声波灭火也许你是头回听说。
Electrical and computer engineering students Viet Tran and Seth Robertson were looking for an interesting idea for their senior research project. That's when they stumbled upon an experiment conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA ) in 2012.
电子工程专业学生Viet Tran和Seth Roberson当时正在为他们大四毕业设计找一个炫酷的方向，随后就偶然间发现了DARPA2012年做过的这个实验。
Tran and Robertson decided to challenge themselves and see if they could take the research to the next level and build a fire extinguisher that could be used commercially. As with any radical idea, they faced a lot of skepticism even from faculty members many of whom declined to serve as advisors.
Tran和Roberson打算挑战自我，看看能否进一步推进这个实验，制造出一款可以创造商业价值的灭火器。这个不切实际的想法让他们面对很对质疑，甚至还有许多学院成员拒绝做他们的导师。
The young engineers first tried to extinguish the fire by placing a subwoofer near a flame created using rubbing alcohol. But they soon realized that 'music' is not such a good idea since it is inconsistent and unpredictable. The next option was exposing the fire to 20,000 to 30,000 hertz frequencies. However with the high frequencies, the flames only vibrated. The duo hit a home run when they reduced the frequency to about 30 to 60 hertz. Turns out that at these low frequencies, the sound vibrates the oxygen away from the flames. With no fuel to keep them going, the fire suffocates and dies.
两位年轻的工程师首先尝试了用低音炮熄灭酒精火源。很快，他们认识到，用音乐来灭火并不是一个好主意，因为音乐不连贯也不规则。另一个方案是把火置于2万到3万赫兹的频率中，但是无论音频有多高，火焰都只是震颤了几下。但当他们把频率降到了30-60赫兹的时候，就开始有效果了。实验证明，在低音频下，声波把氧气从火焰中震颤出去，没了燃料，火很快就减小熄灭了。
Tran and Robertson are not letting naysayers stray them from their goal. They are forging ahead with their idea, this time with the full support of the University who is even helping them apply for a provisional patent. If they do succeed, there may be soon be a time when fire trucks will be extinguishing flames with some sweet music, instead of messy toxic chemicals!
这时的Tran和Roberson并没有让唱反调的人阻挡他们前进的步伐，他们正在不断推进自己的想法，也获得了来自校方的全力支持。校方甚至要帮助他们申请为临时专利。如果发明成功的话，救火车以后就会不用脏脏的有毒化学物品灭火了，放些甜美的音乐就能搞定一切。
译文属可可英语原创，仅供学习和交流使用，未经许可，请勿转载。
