What If the World Lost Oxygen for Five Seconds
如果氧氣消失五秒會發生什麼事
Imagine if all the earth's oxygen disappeared, not forever, just for, say, five seconds. Would we just hold our breath? What would happen to the atmosphere? What would happen to the environment? This is What If, and here's what would happen if the world lost oxygen for just five seconds.
想像一下，整個地球的氧氣都消失了，不是永遠消失，只是五秒鐘。我們會在那五秒中憋氣嗎？大氣會有怎麼樣的變化？環境會有什麼變化？你現在正在收看 What If，接下來將會告訴你地球短短五秒沒有氧氣會發生什麼事。
Take a nice, deep breath. Feel how satisfying that is? What you're breathing in is oxygen. That takes up roughly 21 percent of our atmosphere, with 78 percent being nitrogen. Although it's not the most abundant gas in our atmosphere, it is the most important. Without oxygen, plants, animals, water, and us humans wouldn't be where we are today.
深深吸一口氣。有感覺那多令人滿足嗎？你吸進去的是氧氣。氧氣約佔大氣的 21%，而大氣的 78% 是氮氣。雖然氧氣並非大氣中比重最重的氣體，但卻是最重要的。沒有了氧氣，植物、動物、水和我們人類也不會存在於此。
Five seconds may not sound like a whole lot of time to be without oxygen. Most of us can go at least 30 seconds without taking a breath, so it would happen too fast for your body to even notice. Your breathing would actually remain normal. But as for everything else? Not so much.
五秒鐘沒有氧氣聽起來並不長。多數人都能憋氣至少三十秒，所以沒有氧氣的這五秒會快到身體察覺不出來。你的呼吸其實會保持正常。但對其他事物來說也是如此嗎？不盡然。
In just five seconds, the earth would look completely different. Without oxygen, you can say goodbye to the Hoover Dam, the Pantheon Dome and anything else made of concrete. These structures would instantly collapse. Oxygen acts as a special binding agent to concrete. Without it, concrete is just dust.
在短短五秒內，地球就會完全變樣。沒了氧氣，你可以直接跟胡佛水壩、羅馬萬神殿和其他混凝土建築物說掰掰了。這些建築物會立刻坍塌。氧氣是混凝土結合的特別黏合劑。沒了氧氣，混凝土就只是一堆塵埃而已。
Speaking of buildings, any untreated metal would instantly be fused together. This is because there's a layer of oxidation on metals that prevents them from welding together. Without that layer, metals would instantly bind to each other.
說到建築物，所有沒處理過的金屬都會立刻熔在一起。這是因為金屬上有一層氧化層防止金屬整個熔在一起。少了那層防護層，金屬會立刻熔在一起。
If you happen to be relaxing at the beach at the time, expect a severe sunburn. The ozone layer, our protection against the sun's UV rays, is made of oxygen. Take away the oxygen, and the earth would become extremely dangerous. There would be nothing protecting us from the sun's UV rays.
如果你碰巧在沙灘上放鬆休息，小心會有嚴重的曬傷。幫我們阻隔紫外線的臭氧層是由氧組成的。如果沒了氧，地球會變得非常危險。沒有東西可以幫我們抵擋太陽的紫外線。
In addition to a sunburn, our inner ear would explode. Losing oxygen means losing 21 percent of our air pressure. A change in air pressure that drastic is equivalent to being at sea level and dropping down 2,000 meters instantly. Our ears wouldn't have enough time to adapt.
除了曬傷之外，我們的內耳也會爆炸。氧氣消失的意思就是少了 21% 的氣壓。氣壓如此劇變就等於從海平面瞬間往下掉兩千公尺。我們的耳朵會沒有足夠的時間適應氣壓的改變。
Having a good time yet? Well, don't expect it to last long.
覺得這樣好玩嗎？別以為這麼簡單。
Without oxygen, there's no fire. The combustion process in vehicles wouldn't be able to occur. Any mode of transport that isn't electric would automatically fail. Planes will fall from the sky, and millions of cars will be stopped in their tracks.
沒有氧氣，就沒有火。汽車內的燃燒程序無法作用。所有非以電為動力的交通工具就會無法運作。飛機會從空中墜落，幾百萬輛車子會卡在路上動彈不得。
The sky would be completely dark. Before it hits the earth, light from the sun bounces off multiple particles in the air. Without oxygen in the atmosphere, there are less things to bounce off, and the sky will appear dark.
天空會變成一片完全的黑暗。從太陽發出的光線照到地球之前，會反射空氣中的多種粒子。大氣中缺乏氧氣的話，能反彈的物質變少了，天空因而會成為一片黑暗。
Oh yeah, and while all this is happening, the earth's crust would completely crumble. That's because Earth's crust is made up of 45-percent oxygen. The crust would crumble and continue to crumble until that's nothing left, sending you and everyone on the planet into a free fall.
喔對了，上述所有事情同時發生的時候，地殼也會完全破裂。這是因為，地殼的組成有百分之四十五的氧。地殼會不斷地破碎到絲毫不剩，讓你和地球上的所有人像坐自由落體一樣下墜。
Sound like fun? Probably not. But luckily, you can take a deep breath of 21-percent oxygen, knowing this will never happen.
聽起來很有趣嗎？大概不是如此。但幸運的是，你可以深深吸一口含量百分之二十一的氧氣，因為你知道這永遠不會發生。
For more things that are fun to speculate on, keep checking back with What If.
想要推測更多有趣的事情，就持續鎖定追蹤 What If。
