时差N小时 你对火柴了解多少?(上)

There are two different types of matches: safety matches and strike-anywhere matches.

目前有两种不同的火柴：安全火柴，还有一种随便划一下都可点燃的火柴。

No! Yep!

不是吧！没错！

Safety matches are the kind that light only when struck on the striking surface on the side of a matchbox.

所谓安全火柴，是指那种只在火柴盒表面特定的某一位置划才能点燃的火柴。

A striking surface consists of sand, powdered glass, and a chemical called red phosphorus.

这种易燃表面是由沙子、玻璃粉以及一种叫做红磷的化学物质构成。

The tip of a safety match is made of glass powder, sulfur¹, and an oxidizing agent–a chemical necessary to keep a flame burning.

火柴头是由玻璃粉，硫磺和一种氧化剂组成 - 这种氧化剂是维持火苗燃烧的必要化学物质。

When a safety match scrapes against a striking surface, the glass powder on the striking surface and match head rub together,

当你用一根安全火柴划易燃的表面时，表面的会玻璃粉和火柴头产生摩擦，

creating enough heat to turn a bit of the red phosphorus on the striking surface into white phosphorus.

然后产生了足够的热量，这种热量能够使得易燃表面的红磷转化成为白磷。

The white phosphorus ignites in air, passing ignition across to the match head.

白磷在空气中会燃烧，接着火柴头就被点燃了。

1 sulfur   

n.硫，硫磺（=sulphur）

参考例句：

• Sulfur emissions from steel mills become acid rain.炼钢厂排放出的硫形成了酸雨。
• Burning may produce sulfur oxides.燃烧可能会产生硫氧化物。