海底兩萬(wàn)里 第170期 第12章 一切都用電(3)

First off, I'll mention that at the bottom of the sea there exist veins of zinc, iron, silver, and gold whose mining would quite certainly be feasible.

首先，我對(duì)您說(shuō)，海底有鋅、鐵、銀、金等礦藏，開(kāi)發(fā)并不是不可能的事。

But I've tapped none of these land-based metals, and I wanted to make demands only on the sea itself for the sources of my electricity.

但我并不借助于陸地上的這些金屬，我只是要大海本身來(lái)供給我生產(chǎn)電力的原料。

The sea itself?

要海來(lái)供給?

Yes, professor, and there was no shortage of such sources.

是的，教授，我的方怯多著呢。

In fact, by establishing a circuit between two wires immersed to different depths, I'd be able to obtain electricity through the diverging temperatures they experience;

譬如我可以把沉在不同深度下的金屬線連結(jié)成電路，金屬線受到的不同熱度就產(chǎn)生電：

but I preferred to use a more practical procedure.

但我通常采用的，是另一種比較方便而實(shí)用的方法。

And that is?

是哪種方法呢?

You're familiar with the composition of salt water. In 1,000 grams one finds 96.5% water and about 2.66% sodium chloride;

海水的成份您是知道的。一千克的海水有百分之九十六點(diǎn)五是水，百分之二點(diǎn)七左右是氯化鈉，

then small quantities of magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium bromide, sulfate of magnesia, calcium sulfate, and calcium carbonate.

其余就是小量的氯化鎂，氯化鉀，澳化鎂，硫酸鎂，硫酸和石炭酸。

Hence you observe that sodium chloride is encountered there in significant proportions.

由此您可以看出，氯化鈉在海水中含有相當(dāng)大的分量。

Now then, it's this sodium that I extract from salt water and with which I compose my electric cells.

而我從海水中提出來(lái)的就是鈉，我就是用這些鈉制造我所需要的物質(zhì)。