科学家:火光中藏着钻石

Each flickering candle flame contains 'millions of tiny diamonds that are created and disappear in the blink of an eye'.

每一个闪烁的烛火中包含着“以百万计的微小钻石，它们在眨眼间产生或者消失。”

Scientists have shown that a flickering flame is studded with millions of tiny diamonds.

科学家已经证实：一个闪烁的火焰里镶满了数以万计的细小的钻石。

Roughly 1.5million of the twinkling gems are created every second.

每秒钟大约能产生150万块宝石。

Sadly, for those whose eyes are lighting up the thought of making a fortune, the jewels are so small that up to 300,000 would fit on the head of a pin.

可悲的是，对于那些眼睛里就想要动发财的念头的人来说，这些宝石是非常小的，大约30万块宝石都和针头一样大。

And they disappear in the blink of an eye.

它们在眨眼间就会消失。

But if scientists come up with a way of harnessing the technology, people could use little more than a candle and a match to ‘grow’ diamonds from scratch.

但如果科学家能想出一种利用科技的方法的话，人们就可以只用一支蜡烛和一根火柴就能将这些宝石放大。

As well as costing a fraction of the price of ‘real’ diamonds, they would be an ethically sound alternative to the blood diamonds mined in African war zones.

一种钻石的来源也能成为产业的福音，他们将这种奇妙的硬石运用到了各种事物上，从刀片到截肢的假臀。

The idea comes from a St Andrews University scientist challenged to find out just what is inside a flame.

这个想法来自圣安德鲁斯大学的科学家，他挑战性的要找出火焰里到底是什么。

Wuzong Zhou, a professor of chemistry, said: ‘A colleague from another university said to me: "Of course, no one knows what a candle flame is actually made of."

一位化学教授Wuzong Zhou说：“另一所大学的同事告诉我说‘没人知道火焰里是什么东西’。”

‘I told him I believed science could explain everything eventually, so I decided to find out.’

我告诉他说：“我相信科学可以解释一切，因此我决定找出这个真相。”

The professor invented a filter that allowed him to successfully extract particles from the centre of the flame, where temperatures top 1,400C, and then examined them.'

这位教师发明了一种过滤器，这可以让他成功的提取出火焰中间的微粒，它的温度高达1400度，然后他就会检测这些物质。

To his surprise, he discovered that the carbon in the candle wax had formed all four types of pure carbon, including diamonds and graphite, or pencil lead.

令他吃惊的是，他发现蜡烛里的碳已经形成了纯碳的四种形态，包括：钻石、石墨和铅笔芯。

Pure carbon can make very different structures depending on how the atoms are arranged and how they bond to each other.

纯碳的结构可以使各种各样的，而这取决于原子是如何排列和结合的。

Professor Zhou said: ‘This was a surprise because each form is usually created under different conditions.

zhou教授说：“这是个惊喜因为每种形态通常是在不同的条件下形成的。”

In a lecture on the chemical history of the candle, delivered in London in 1860 at the prestigious Royal Society about the marvels of science, he told his audience that candlelight ‘has the glittering beauty of gold and silver, and the still higher lustre of jewels like the ruby and diamond; but none of these rival the brilliancy and beauty of flame'.

在一个蜡烛的化学历史的讲座上，该讲座在1860年，由伦敦享誉盛名的皇家学会的出版的科学的奇迹上发表，他告诉他的观众说：“烛光有金银闪耀的美丽，更高档的宝石光泽像红宝石和钻石，但是这些都比不上火焰的辉煌和美丽。”