"E.Voiskunsky, I.Lukodyanov. The Crew Of The Mekong (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

lighting a cigarette.
Yura lifted his eyebrows. "It takes the shape of the vessel into which
it's poured. Primitive man guessed that much."
"Very well. Now take a drop of liquid. What keeps the liquid in a
droplet? Surface tension. No vessel is needed. A sphere is the ideal shape
of a minimum surface. But a droplet is not spherical. The earth's gravity
gives it a bulge, making it pear-shaped."
"In short, a drop-like shape." "Exactly."
There was a knock on the door. A tall, husky man in a white singlet and
blue jeans entered. He had a broad, heavy-jawed face, and there was a tuft
of red hair on top of his head.
"Caught you in at last, Nikolai," he said in a deep, hoarse voice.
"Where've you been hiding?"
"What can I do for you, Uncle Vova?" Nikolai asked. "I want to borrow
your aqualung for a couple of days."
"My diving gear?"
"Don't worry, you'll get it back in perfect condition," he said
reassuringly, 'I'll refill the cylinders too."
"All right, take it,"
Uncle Vova picked up the aqualung and inspected it.
"Fine workmanship," he remarked. "Thanks."
"When did you return?" asked Nikolai.
"Sunday. By the way, I saw you pull that girl out of the sea. You made
a neat job of it."
"Why, it looks as though the whole town saw it."
"Really?" Uncle Vova pricked up his ears. "Who else?"
"The whole ship. You were on the Uzbekistan too, weren't you?"
"Oh, I don't give a damn about the Uzbekistan" Uncle Vova replied
vaguely. "Well, I'm off." He nodded and went out.
"Now Yura, listen to what-" At this point Nikolai noticed that Yura,
his long legs hanging over the edge of the sofa, was sound asleep. Nikolai
shook him by the shoulder. Yura jerked a leg and pushed his friend away
without opening his eyes.
"Wake up this instant or I'll shake the life out of you!" Nikolai
shouted.
Yura opened his eyes. "I must have dozed for a moment," he remarked
with a conciliatory smile.
"You certainly did. Get off the sofa."
"I'm more comfortable on it. You can continue talking. We stopped on
droplets being droplet-shaped. It sounds fascinating."
"Are you trying to be funny?"
"Not 'for the world."
"Then listen. The size of a droplet depends on the magnitude of the
surface tension. In the case of water"-Nikolai glanced at his notes- "the
surface tension is 72.8 ergs per square centimetre. The surface tension of
alcohol is a little more than 22 ergs."
"What is it for mercury?"
"Mercury? Just a minute." Nikolai took down a thick reference book from
a shelf and leafed through it. "Just listen to this! The surface tension of
mercury is 470 ergs. That's terrific!"