轮胎摩擦中会产生微塑料

橡胶与道路的缠绵，产生了一个严重的问题：微塑料。

Scientists analyzed more than 500 small particles pulled from the air around three busy German highways, and found that the vast majority — 89 percent — came from vehicle tires, brake systems and roads themselves. All together, these particles are classified by the researchers as microplastics, though they include materials other than plastic.

科学家们从德国三条繁忙的高速公路附近采集了空气样本，仔细分析了其中包含的500多颗微粒，发现绝大多数——89%——都来自汽车轮胎、制动系统和道路本身。总之，这些颗粒被研究人员归类为微塑料，尽管它们确实包括塑料以外的材质。

Those particles get blown by wind and washed by rain into waterways that lead to the ocean, where the debris can harm aquatic animals and fragile ecosystems, says environmental scientist Reto Gieré of the University of Pennsylvania. He presented the findings on November 6 at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Indianapolis. Previous research has estimated that about 30 percent of the volume of microplastics polluting oceans, lakes and rivers come from tire wear.

宾夕法尼亚大学的环境科学家Reto Gieré说，这些颗粒被风吹散，被雨水冲刷到下水道里，最终汇入海洋;在那里的塑料会对水生动物和脆弱的生态系统造成伤害。当然，也会被摄入到人类的体内。*

11月6日在印第安纳波利斯举行的美国地质学会年会上，他向与会者介绍了自己的发现。之前有研究估计，污染海洋、湖泊和河流的微塑料中，大约有30%的来自轮胎磨损。

“We all want to reduce CO2 emissions” from vehicle exhaust, Gieré says. “But you can’t stop tire abrasion.” Traffic congestion makes the problem worse. Vehicles traveling at constant speeds, without so much brake use, produced fewer particles, the researchers found.

Gieré说：“我们都希望能够减少汽车尾气中二氧化碳的排放量，但你无法阻止轮胎磨损。”交通拥堵使问题更加严重。研究人员发现，在不使用制动器的情况下以恒定速度行驶的车辆产生的颗粒物更少。

Because some materials, including synthetic rubber, become coated in dust and other tinier bits of debris, they’re not always easy to identify. The researchers figured out what each particle was by examining each of them under a scanning electron microscope and running chemical analyses.

由于某些材料(包括合成橡胶)会被灰尘和其他较小的碎屑涂覆，因此它们并不总是易于识别。研究人员通过扫描电子显微镜逐一观察每个颗粒，并借助化学分析来确定它们来源于何处。

“These [tire] particles are stealthy,” says John Weinstein, an environmental toxicologist at the Citadel in Charleston, S.C., who was not involved in the study.

“这些[轮胎]颗粒相当于是隐形的。”南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿Citadel的环境毒理学家John Weinstein说道，他并没有参与这项研究。