Some scientists struggle to observe the most distant stars, while others have spent decades calculating the probability that habitable planets exist elsewhere in our galaxy¹. For a pair of Greek researchers, there was a more pressing problem: is it possible to cook chips in space?

有些科学家致力于观测最远的星球，有些科学家花费数十年时间思考在银河系内其他星球定居的可能性，而对于这群希腊研究者来说，他们思考的问题更为棘手：人类可以在太空里炸薯条吗？

The team, from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, have confirmed that chips can be fried — quicker and crunchier, in fact — at three times the normal gravitational force, in conditions equivalent to those on Jupiter.

这支来自亚里士多德大学的研究队伍研究发现，在太空里炸薯条是可行的，而且更酥脆，炸熟也更快——如果你是在三倍于地球的引力环境中炸薯条的话，比如在木星上。

However, achieving a pleasingly crispy exterior² may be more challenging in the reduced gravity conditions on Mars or the Moon, they predict. Thodoris Karapantsios, a chemical engineer who led the study funded by the European Space Agency, devised a hyper-gravity simulator for chips by building a rotating industrial fryer capable of producing centrifugal forces equivalent to nine times the Earth’s gravity.

然而专家们预测，在火星或月球这样的低引力环境中，找到适宜炸出酥脆薯条的环境就有点困难了。化学工程师索佐瑞斯·卡拉帕特希奥斯是这个由欧洲太空总署资助的研究项目的领头人，他建造了一台能够产生高达地球引力9倍的高引力的旋转工业油炸锅，通过这台超引力模拟器来炸薯条。

In normal conditions, bubbles form in the potato as it fries, which move to the surface because of gravitational forces once they reach a critical size. This process happens more quickly in high-gravity conditions, improving the rate that heat is transferred from the oil to the potato.

在通常情况下，被油炸膨胀的薯条受到的引力作用减少，会漂浮到油锅表面，漂浮的薯条之间亦会出现气泡。在高引力环境下，热量从油传递到土豆条的速度更快，薯条漂浮到表面的速度也就更快。

In 3g conditions the potato fried twice as quickly as usual and its crust reached its maximum thickness. Any further increase in gravity levels did not improve the chip’s crispness, the researchers found, leading to the conclusion that Jupiter is probably the most efficient place in the solar system to make chips (aside from the fuel required to get there).

在3倍引力的作用下，薯条炸熟的速度比一般情况下要快一倍，薯条表面的酥皮也达到了最厚的厚度。研究者发现，如果在3倍引力的基础上继续增加引力，则对薯条的酥脆程度无益。由此可以得出结论，木星很可能是太阳系中最适合炸薯条的宇宙环境（如果不考虑为了到达火星而需要消耗的燃料的话）。

In a taste experiment, student volunteers were unable to tell the difference between normal and the hyper-gravity chips.

在一项口感实验中，参加实验的学生们未能分辨出普通薯条和高引力环境炸出的薯条之间的区别。

The next step will be to rerun the experiment in low-gravity conditions.

下一步，研究者们将在低引力的太空环境中再次进行实验。

Professor Karapantsios predicts that the chips are likely to be unpleasantly soggy. In zero gravity there is no force causing the air bubbles to detach from the chip.

卡拉帕特希奥斯教授预测，低引力环境下炸出的薯条会不够酥脆。在零重力条件下，土豆条中的空气气泡根本无法排出。