Name: 手沒空點手機的時候怎麼辦？用「香腸」就好啦！ (Explaining how a touchscreen works with a sausage | The Secret Genius of Modern Life - BBC)
Uploaded: 2025-04-12T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 4 min 11 s

Okay, I want you to imagine for a moment it's 2010.

我想讓你想象一下現在是 2010 年。

And it is one of the coldest winters on record, there's snow everywhere, and everyone, as they have a habit of doing in winter is getting really annoyed about the fact that they can't use their smartphones while they're wearing gloves.

這是有史以來最寒冷的冬天之一，到處都是雪，每個人都習慣在冬天這樣做：戴著手套卻不能使用智慧型手機，這讓他們非常惱火。

而且你知道嗎，它還真的管用。

Please excuse typos, I'm writing with a sausage.

請原諒錯別字，我是用香腸寫的。

I spent eight years at university studying mathematics.

Now, this became so popular that one sausage manufacturer said that they actually had a 40% increase in sales.

現在，這種做法變得如此流行，以至於一家香腸製造商說，他們的銷量實際上增加了 40%。

Anyway, once you've wiped all the greasy sausage slime off your phone.

總之，等你把手機上的香腸黏液都擦乾淨後，就可以開始使用了。

You're left with a very handy treat for your way home. Delicious.

你會會回家的路上得到一個非常方便的點心。真美味。

What could bangers do that gloves couldn't?

香腸能做什麼手套不能做的事？

這一切都源於一些隱藏的物理學原理。

You might imagine that the screen on your smartphone is just a simple sheet of toughened glass.

你可能會認為智慧型手機的螢幕只是一塊簡單的鋼化玻璃。

But actually, hiding inside it is a very fine mesh of something called indium tin oxide.

但實際上，它的內部隱藏著一種叫做氧化銦錫的非常細的網狀物。

Now, indium tin oxide has a very special quality, which is that it is able to store charge and conduct electricity.

氧化銦錫具有一種非常特殊的性質，那就是它能夠儲存電荷和導電。

You can't see it on your phone screen because the mesh is transparent.

在手機螢幕上看不到，因為網格是透明的。

So let me explain what it does using something that we can see, a phone case and some polystyrene balls.

所以，讓我用我們能看到的東西，一個手機殼和一些聚苯乙烯球，來解釋一下它的作用。

In the real phone, you have got a layer of glass, which acts as an insulator, using plastic here.

在真正的手機中，有一層玻璃起絕緣作用，而這裡使用的是塑膠。

And then underneath it, that grid of indium tin oxide is charged, which creates an electric field.

然後在其下方，氧化銦錫網格被充電，從而產生電場。

And that is something we can mimic using this and a woolly jumper in order to just impart some static electricity magic in there.

我們可以用這個和一個毛線跳線來模擬這種情況，以便在其中傳遞一些靜電魔力。

It's actually the director's, but she's she dresses like an 80 year old.

其實是導演的，但她穿得像個 80 歲的老人。

So my polystyrene balls are now the stored electric charges in the grid.

我的聚苯乙烯球現在就是電網中儲存的電荷。

But our bodies actually have something in common with indium tin oxide, which is that we too are able to store charge and conduct electricity.

但實際上，我們的身體與氧化銦錫有一些共同之處，那就是我們也能儲存電荷和導電。

And so, when the charge from my finger comes close to the charge stored in this grid on the phone, it disturbs the electrostatic field.

當我手指上的電量接近手機電網中儲存的電量時，它擾亂了靜電場。

This is not me pushing these balls around here. It's the interaction between the stored charges of these two conductors, your finger and the grid inside your phone that makes this touchscreen work.

這不是我把這些球推來推去，而是你的手指和手機內的網格這兩種導體所儲存的電荷之間的相互作用使觸碰螢幕運作。

Your phone's processor can detect these field changes and pinpoint the exact location of your touch.

手機處理器可以檢測到這些場變化，並精確定位你的觸摸位置。

And that essentially means that anything that has that similar property, anything that also can store charge and conduct electricity will be able to make your touchscreen work, so something like a sausage will do very nicely.

這基本上意味著，任何具有類似性質的東西，任何也能儲存電荷和導電的東西能使你的觸碰螢幕正常運作，所以像香腸這樣的東西就能很好地運用。

Or just get yourself a handy pickle, which will work just as well. My phone is going to stink.

或者給自己拿個方便的酸黃瓜，也一樣能用。我的手機要發臭了。

Like the pickle, we are mostly made from salty water, and that's what allows us to store charge and conduct electricity.

就像酸黃光一樣，我們主要由鹹水製成，這就是我們能夠儲存電荷和導電的原因。

But materials that are insulators, something like a fork, for instance, and don't allow electricity to pass through, they won't work.

但是，絕緣體材料，例如叉子，不允許電流通過，它們不起作用。

Not doing anything, and neither does a gloved hand.

沒有任何作用，戴著手套的手也沒有任何作用。