16 Blastoff!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN BLASTOFF! Thermal energy (noun). This is energy in the form of heat. Basically, when the temperature rises, atoms move faster and bump into each other more frequently. Think of it like a fun game of bumper cars! I PARKED THE WAGON ON THE SIDEWALK, scooped up my rocket, and raced to where everyone congregated on the field. Well, everyone except my best friend. I tried to push away my worried thoughts. I had made it to the launch just in time. Ms. Daly, who stood with her back to the gym, held up her watch. She was bundled up in a puffy down jacket. "Glad you could make it, Kate," she said. "Thanks," I said, breathless, as I set my rocket down next to Tala and Elijah. The tips of the grass were frosted. And I could see my breath in the air.

第十六章发射！热能（名词）。 这是热形式的能量。 基本上，当温度升高时，原子运动得更快，相互碰撞的频率也更高。 把它想象成一个有趣的碰碰车游戏！我把马车停在人行道上，拿起我的火箭，跑到大家聚集的地方。 好吧，除了我最好的朋友。 我试图驱走我的忧虑。 我及时赶到了发布会现场。 戴利背朝着健身房站着，她举起了手表。 她裹着一件蓬松的羽绒服。 “很高兴你能来，凯特，”她说。 “谢谢，”我气喘吁吁地说，把火箭放在塔拉和以利亚旁边。 草尖上结了霜。 我可以在空气中看到我的呼吸。

"It's so cold," said Elijah, squeezing his hands. "And I forgot to bring gloves." "It's freezing," said Phoenix. "I have an extra pair in my truck. I'll go get them," said Ms. Daly, and she ran off. "We need to make some thermal energy," I said. "Like this!" Then I started doing jumping jacks. Tala and Elijah joined me. "Hey, this is helping," said Elijah. Soon everyone in the club was doing jumping jacks. "Where's Birdie?" he asked. "I don't know," I admitted. "Is something wrong?" He looked concerned. "I mean, between you guys?" "No," I said. At least, from my point of view, nothing was wrong. Except that I was worried. "I really don't want to talk about it," I snapped. "Okay, sorry," said Elijah, and I immediately felt bad for being grumpy. But I couldn't help it. Because most of all I hoped that Birdie was okay. But if she wasn't okay, she would let me know. Eventually. I swallowed hard. Maybe a family thing came up? She has a huge extended family and they get together a lot since a bunch of them live in Michigan. Maybe one of her cousins had another baby or something and she forgot to tell me.

“太冷了，”以利亚说着，紧握着双手。 “我忘了带手套。” “太冷了。”菲尼克斯说。 “我卡车里还有一双。 我去拿。” 她跑掉了。“我们需要制造一些热能，”我说。 “这样!”然后我开始做开合跳。 塔拉和以利亚也加入了我。 “嘿，这很有帮助，”以利亚说。 很快，俱乐部里的每个人都在做开合跳。 “小鸟在哪儿？”他问。 “我不知道，”我承认。 “出什么事了吗？”他看上去很担心。 “我是说，你们俩之间？”“不，”我说。 至少，在我看来，没有什么不对的。 除了我很担心。 “我真的不想谈这件事，”我厉声说。 “好吧，对不起，”以利亚说，我立刻为自己的暴躁感到难过。 但我没办法。因为最重要的是，我希望小鸟没事。 但如果她不舒服，她会告诉我的。 最终。我使劲咽了口气。 也许是家里出了什么事？ 她有一个庞大的大家庭，他们经常聚在一起，因为他们中的一些人住在密歇根州。 也许她的表姐又生了个孩子什么的，她忘了告诉我。

Ms. Daly returned with the extra pair of gloves and handed them to Elijah, who told her he actually wasn't cold anymore. "Because of thermal energy." "Me neither," I said, breathless. "Yay!" said Tala, and she started to shake, shimmy, and do her happy dance. We all joined in, including Ms. Daly. When we were all toasty, Ms. Daly said it was launch time. "Pilots often talk to their planes before a flight," said Ms. Daly, who sometimes told us stories of her days in the air force. "They'll speak aloud to their planes and say things like "Take care of me." So before you launch, I'd like everyone to talk to their rockets." Some of the kids started to giggle. I tried to smile, too. "Hey, it's a tradition," said Ms. Daly. "I'd advise that you say something nice." "You better go higher than Memito's rocket," said Elijah to his rocket. "And Jeremy's." "You better go to the moon," said Memito to his rocket. "You better prepare to lose the race," said Jeremy to his rocket. I felt too upset to say anything to my rocket, so I sort of petted it like it was Dribble. "Some pilots won't point at the sky because they believe it will cause bad weather," said Ms. Daly. "But

戴利拿着那副额外的手套回来了，递给以利亚。以利亚告诉她，他其实已经不冷了。 “因为热能。” “我也是。”我气喘吁吁地说。 “耶！”塔拉说，她开始颤抖，摇摆，跳起她快乐的舞蹈。 我们都参加了，包括她。 戴利。当我们都喝得舒舒服服的时候。 戴利说该发射了。 “飞行员经常在起飞前和他们的飞机通话，”她说。 戴利有时会给我们讲她在空军服役时的故事。 他们会对飞机大声说话，说“照顾我”之类的话。 所以在你发射之前，我希望每个人都和他们的火箭谈谈。” 一些孩子开始咯咯地笑。 我也试着微笑。“嘿，这是传统。” 戴利。“我建议你说些好听的话。” 以利亚对他的火箭说：“你最好飞得比米米托的火箭高。” “和杰里米。”“你最好去月球，”梅托对他的火箭说。 “你最好做好输掉比赛的准备，”杰里米对他的火箭说。 我太难过了，什么也没对我的火箭说，所以我就像抚摸运球一样抚摸它。 “一些飞行员不会指向天空，因为他们认为这会导致恶劣天气，”她说。 戴利。“但

we all know that bad weather is caused by a low-pressure system." Phew. I was secretly glad that Ms. Daly didn't believe in superstitious stuff like that. "But I've seen pilots give a big ole hug to the nose of their plane," she continued. "So feel free to give your nose a little hug, too." She grinned. "Nose?" asked Memito. I pointed to the cone of the rocket. "This is the nose." "Oh, right! I forgot." Memito shook his head. "I'm not hugging it or kissing it," he said. "No way!" Meanwhile Avery and Phoenix were hugging their noses. I looked to see if Birdie had finally made it to the field. But I didn't see her anywhere. Maybe her cousin really did have a baby? "Does everyone have their cork with them?" asked Tala, who had popped up to stand next to Ms. Daly. "Because you need something to seal your bottle." She held up a cork. "Does anyone need a new cork?" Julia raised her hand. "There you go." Ms. Daly handed her an extra cork. "Now remember, if the cork is too loose, it will fall out. Shake, shake, shake your bottle to test to see if it will stay in."

我们都知道恶劣天气是由低压系统造成的。” 唷。我暗自庆幸，mrs。 戴利不相信那种迷信的东西。 “但我看到过飞行员给他们的飞机机头一个大大的拥抱，”她继续说道。 “所以，也给你的鼻子一个小小的拥抱吧。” 她咧嘴一笑。“鼻子？”梅托问。 我指着火箭的锥形。 “这是鼻子。”“哦,对了!我忘了。” 梅托摇了摇头。“我不会拥抱它，也不会亲吻它，”他说。 “不可能!”与此同时，埃弗里和菲尼克斯抱着鼻子。 我看了看伯迪是否终于到达了场地。 但我哪儿都没见过她。 也许她表妹真的有个孩子？ “每个人都带着软木塞了吗？”塔拉突然出现在她身边，问道。 戴利。“因为你需要一些东西来密封你的瓶子。” 她举起一个软木塞。“有人需要一个新的软木塞吗？”茱莉亚举起了手。 “给你。”戴利又递给她一个软木塞。 “现在记住，如果软木塞太松，它会掉出来的。 摇，摇，摇你的瓶子，看看它能不能留在里面。”

Julia shook and the cork tumbled out. Her face fell. "Oooops," she said. "That's okay," said Ms. Daly. "We can fix it. With a bit of tape, you can wrap it around the cork until it's a bit bigger, and then you'll get a nice and tight fit. And you'll be ready to launch. I've got some extra tape in my car. I'll go and get it." "Thanks," called out Julia. "That would be great." "Tala can help you while I get the tape," said Ms. Daly, who started to dash back to the parking lot. Tala gave a thumbs-up. "Let me know if you need any assistance getting set up." For a moment, I felt just a tiny bit jealous. Ugh. My emotions were all over the place today. Usually I'm the one who gets to explain things in chemistry club. But really, I was mostly glad for Tala. After all, it was cool how much she knew about rockets. And as the new girl, she was really fitting in super quick. Almost as if she could read my mind, she called my name. "Kate, can you help me explain a little bit about the chemistry of these rockets?" "Absolutely!" I zipped over to Tala. "So here's the deal with our rocket 'fuel.'" I pointed to the plastic bottles of white vinegar on a card table. "You've got the acetic acid, what we call vinegar, over there and you need to pour it into your bottle. Then we add the sodium bicarbonate—the baking soda. When vinegar and baking

茱莉亚抖了抖，软木塞掉了出来。 她的脸沉了下来。“哎呀，”她说。 “没关系，”戴利说。 “我们可以解决这个问题。你可以用一根胶带把它缠在软木塞上，直到它变大一点，然后你就会得到一个漂亮而紧密的瓶塞。 然后你就可以发射了。 我车里有多余的胶带。 我去拿。”“谢谢。”茱莉亚叫道。 “那太好了。”“塔拉可以帮你，我去拿带子。” 戴利开始向停车场冲去。 塔拉竖起大拇指。“如果你需要任何帮助来设置，请告诉我。” 有那么一瞬间，我觉得有点嫉妒。 啊。我今天情绪很激动。 通常在化学俱乐部里都是我来解释。 但说真的，我还是为塔拉感到高兴。 毕竟，她对火箭的了解是如此之多。 作为新来的女孩，她很快就适应了。 仿佛她能读懂我的心思，她叫了我的名字。 “凯特，你能帮我解释一下这些火箭的化学成分吗？”“绝对!”我飞快地跑向塔拉。 “我们的火箭燃料是这样的。’”我指着牌桌上装白醋的塑料瓶。 “你有醋酸，我们称之为醋，你需要把它倒进你的瓶子里。 然后加入碳酸氢钠——小苏打。 当醋和烘焙

soda mix together, you get a chemical reaction and it produces carbon dioxide. You'll know your rocket is working when you start to see some fizzing." Tala clapped her hands. "Thanks, Kate. Once you've filled up your bottle halfway with vinegar, you're going to drop in your toilet-paper packet of baking soda, put in the cork, and then move away from the rocket fast. I'm going to demonstrate first with my bottle rocket. And then you all can do it, too." She pointed to the jugs of vinegar. "Everyone, if you haven't already, fill up your rocket with acetic acid." Along with other kids, I raced over and filled up my rocket. "Got your fuel pack?" asked Tala. "Yes," kids chorused, pulling the packets out of their pockets. Ms. Daly waved at us as she emerged from the parking lot with the tape. She soon handed it to Julia, who looked grateful. "Yay!" I said, trying my best to be cheerful. "I'm glad you're not going to miss out on the big launch." "Thanks," she said Opening up the cap, Tala squeezed in her packet, added the cork, and then bolted from the rocket. I scooted away along with everyone else. "Okay, is everyone ready to start counting?" A chorus of voices, including mine, chanted, "Yes!"

苏打混合在一起，发生化学反应，产生二氧化碳。 当你开始看到嘶嘶声时，你就知道你的火箭在工作了。” 塔拉拍了拍手。“谢谢你,凯特。 一旦你的瓶子里装满了一半的醋，你就会把你的小苏打扔进你的卫生纸里，放进软木塞，然后迅速离开火箭。 我将首先用我的瓶子火箭来演示。 然后你们也都能做到。” 她指着那几罐醋。 “每个人，如果你还没准备好，那就把你的火箭装满醋酸吧。” 我和其他孩子一起跑过去给我的火箭加满油。 “带着你的燃料包了吗？”塔拉问。 “是的，”孩子们齐声说着，从口袋里掏出了一包。 戴利女士拿着胶带从停车场出来时向我们挥了挥手。 她很快把它递给了茱莉亚，茱莉亚看起来很感激。 “耶!”我说，尽量使自己高兴起来。 “我很高兴你不会错过这次盛大的发射。” “谢谢，”她说，塔拉打开瓶盖，把她的小包塞进去，塞上软木塞，然后从火箭上钻了出来。 我和其他人一起溜走了。 “好了，大家准备好开始数数了吗？”包括我在内的一群人齐声高呼：“是的！”