Hydroplaning happens when a vehicle moves too quickly along a wet road. A layer of water accumulates under the tires; they lift up and lose traction; the driver loses control.
当车辆在潮湿的路面上开得太快时会出现打滑现象。轮胎下聚积的一层水会抬高轮胎，失去牵引力，驾驶员会失去对车辆的控制。
Now, what does NASA have to do with hydroplaning?
美国国家航空航天局与打滑现象有什么关系呢？
Here's an historical look at the science story.
我们来看下科学的历史。
Hydroplaning is a relatively new phenomenon for humans, given that the combination of high speed and smooth pavement that's necessary has only fairly recently become possible.
打滑现象对人们来说是相对较新的现象，因为高速和光滑的人行道也是最近相对才有的。
In fact, it wasn't until 1957 that a tire treadmill study first experimentally demonstrated hydroplaning “in action.”
事实上，直到1957年一台带轮胎的踏车最先通过试验演示了打滑现象的存在。
That study was motivated by airplanes.
那项研究是由飞机引发的灵感。
Hydroplaning had been causing a lot of problems for pilots landing on wet runways.
飞行员降落在潮湿跑道上，打滑现象已经给他们造成了大量的问题。
Here's where NASA comes in. NASA scientists wanted to figure out what hydroplaning was all about.
这也是NASA介入的原因。NASA科学家试图弄明白打滑现象究竟是怎么回事。
So, they collected a lot of data, and produced a mathematical formula to illustrate how quickly a vehicle could travel on a wet surface before entering hydroplane mode.
因此，他们收集了很多数据，并且得出一个数学公式来说明车辆在潮湿的路面以多快的速度行驶就会打滑。
They published the equation in 1963, along with information about the effects of water depth, paving technique, tire tread, and vehicle weight on hydroplaning risk.
1963年，科学家们公布了这个数学公式，同时告诉大家水的深度、人行道的铺设技术，轮胎面以及车的重量对打滑的影响。
This publication offered several important safety tips.
这次信息的公开提供了几个重要的安全提示。
For example, use well-treaded, fully inflated tires; and, don't slam on the brakes if you skid on wet pavement.
例如，使用较好的轮胎面，完全充气的轮胎，如果你在潮湿的地面上刹车时，不要用力踩刹车。
These suggestions may sound commonplace, and we now also know that vehicles with anti lock brakes require slightly different hydroplane handling than those without.
这些建议似乎是老生常谈，我们现在也知道带防锁死刹车装置的车辆处理打滑现象时与没有该刹车的车辆稍有不同。
However, we can thank those NASA scientists from fifty years ago for getting the word out, and helping to keep all drivers-on runways and roads-safer on rainy days.
但无论如何，我们都要感激50年前NASA科学家们告诉我们打滑现象，使所有跑道和道路上的驾驶员在雨天能更安全行驶。
