时差N小时:你能让无糖可乐浮起来吗?

Here's an at-home experiment you can try.

你可以在家做这样的实验。

Take a can of “classic” Coca-Cola and a can of DietCoke, andwithout opening either one submergethem in water.

把没打开过的两听可乐放在深槽或者高桶中，

A deepsink or a bucket will do the trick.

里面的水淹没两听可乐，

You'll find the can of Diet Coke rises to the top, whilethe ClassicCoke stays sunk.Can you guess why?Why?

你会发现无糖可乐浮在水面;而含糖可乐却沉下去了。你能猜到原因吗?

The answer lies in the chemical contents of the Diet Coke-in fact, in the very distinctionthatmakes it “Diet”.

奥秘就在于无糖可乐的成分，这也是“无糖”的原因。

Although their ingredients are otherwise similar, Diet Coke is not made with real sugar: instead,themakers of Coca-Cola products have replaced the sugar with a synthetic chemical calledAspartame.

虽然，无糖可乐和普通可乐的成分很相似，无糖可乐中添加的并非真正的糖，而是一种做“阿斯巴甜”的合成化学物。

Aspartame, which is commonly known as Nutrasweet, is a kind of substitute sugar-intendedtomimic the distinctive taste of sugar without carrying the associated calories.

“阿斯巴甜”是一种常见的代糖甜味剂，不含糖的热量却有糖的甜味。

Real sugar has a high molecular density.

真正的糖分子密度高，

In other words you can think of sugar molecules as beingthickly packed together.

也就是说糖分子紧密地排列在一起。

This also means sugar molecules themselves will be relatively heavy, even when dissolvedinsolution.

即使溶解在溶液中，相同体积的糖更重。

In the case of the sinking Coke, the real sugar content is acting as an anchor for the can.

实验中沉下去的普通可乐，正是因为糖成分像锚般让罐子下沉。

There's also the fact that Nutrasweet is much sweeter than sugar, and so less is needed per cantoachieve that recognizable Coca-Cola taste.

代糖比糖甜，所以更少的代糖能达到普通可乐的甜味。

Thus the bobbing Diet Coke not only has a loweraverage density, it also has a lower mass-there's less “stuff” dissolved in the mixture.

这样水中摇摆的无糖可乐不仅平均密度更低，质量也比普通可乐轻-因为更少的代糖溶解在可乐中。

If you werean advertising executive, you might want to market diet sodas as “Light”-itwouldn't be far fromthe truth.

如果你是广告商，你可以这样宣传-无糖碳酸饮料的优点：轻。这可没有说大话。