时差N小时:强力胶

If you've ever had a spill when working withSuperGlue? Then you know that the warning on theside of the tube is the absolute truth: SuperGlue willindeed bond skin in a matter of seconds.

你使用强力胶的时候，胶水溢出过吗?你知道，管身上的提醒是绝对正确的：强力胶确实会在一秒内将皮肤黏在一起。

You may have wondered, as you were trying topry your fingers apart, exactly why SuperGlue is sogood at bonding skin together. Why does it stickyour fingers together so quickly, but not stick to theinside of the tube?

当你试图将手指分开时，也许会奇怪为什么强力胶会将手指粘得如此紧?为什么会如此快得黏住手指，却不粘住管内壁?

SuperGlue is the brand name of a type of glue made from a chemical called cyano-acrylatemonomer. Cyano-acrylate monomers have some properties that are especially interesting toglue manufacturers.

强力胶是由化学物质氰基丙烯酸脂单体合成的一种胶水的商业名称。氰基丙烯酸脂有一些特性，引起了胶水生产商的特殊兴趣。

Monomers are small molecules that can join together to form long chemical chains. Thesechains, known as polymers, are pretty common in everyday life. For example, all plastics aremade from polymer chains of simple molecules, as are all synthetic fabrics.

单体是微小的分子，它们可结合形成化学长链。这些长链就是所谓的聚合物，在日常生活中很常见。例如，所有的塑料都是由简单分子组成的聚合物制成，都是人造纤维。

What makes the cyano-acrylate monomer so special is the speed with which it formspolymers, and the fact that as it joins together, it tends to lock everything else around it intoplace as well. This rapid transformation from unsticky liquid monomer to sticky solidpolymer requires the presence of a little bit of water to get things started—whether it is in theair or on your skin. Without a little moisture, SuperGlue can't bond anything.

氰基丙烯酸脂单体的特别之处在于它形成聚合物的速度。单体在结合时，会将周围每件事物牢牢锁住。从无粘性的液态单体到有粘性的固态单体的快速转化过程中，需要一些水分子来引发反应——不论是空气中的水分还是皮肤里的水分。没有水分，强力胶不能将物质黏在一起的。

This explains why the glue is so good at sticking fingers together. Our skin is naturallymoist, and this moisture is just what those monomers are waiting for. As long as no moisturegets into the tube, however, it will stay an unsticky liquid for a long time.

这就解释了为什么强力胶会粘紧手指。我们的皮肤自然含水，这为这些单体结合创造了条件。只要管里没有水分，它就以无粘性的液态形式存在，保存很长一段时间。