Tribology may be a funny-sounding word, but it has a huge impact on our world.

擦学虽然听起来有点滑稽，但它对我们的世界有着巨大的影响。

It's part of the nearly nine percent of our current global energy consumption that the authors identified tribology can help us save.

这是作者认为擦学可以帮助我们节省的接近全球当前能源消耗百分之九的一部分。

But what's the big deal with tribology?

但擦学有什么大不了的？

Tribology is the study of wear and friction, and with tires, friction can be the difference between a safe arrival and a car accident.

擦学是研究磨损和擦的学科， 而对于轮胎来说，擦可能是安全到达与发生车祸之间的区别。

But it's another field of tribology, and it's not so simple.

但这又是擦学的另一个领域，它并不那么简单。

This is what tribologists are looking to solve.

这是擦学家试图解决的问。

(Laughter) But you were also a junior tribologist.

（笑）但你也是一个初级擦学家。

To put this in perspective: one quad of energy is roughly equivalent to 180 million barrels of oil, and tribology can help us save 20 times that.

为了说明这一点：一夸脱的能量大约相当于1.8亿桶石油，而擦学可以帮助我们节省20倍于此的能源。

So when you look at the numbers, tribology can do some amazing things.

所以当你看看这些数据，擦学可以做到一些惊人的事情。

Pretty common in the ankle, so any of my fellow foot-wigglers out there may suddenly find themselves curious about the tribology of tendons.

脚踝处很常见，所以任何喜欢动动脚的小伙伴们可能会突然对肌腱的擦学感到好奇。

Just think about all the tribological systems in a car.

想想汽车中所有的擦学系统。

I encourage you to start seeing tribology in the world around you and to think about how you would improve those interacting surfaces you experience.

我鼓励你们开始观察周围世界的擦学现象，并思考如何改进那些你们所经历的相互作用的表面。

But tribology is also defined as the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion.

但擦学也被定义为研究相对运动中的相互作用表面的科学。

Imagine the opportunities that will reveal themselves as more of us start to see tribology all around.

想象一下，当越来越多的人开始注意到身边的擦学时，将会出现多少机遇。

Thank you for that sound, tribology.

谢谢你那个声，擦学。

But it has a technical name: tribology.

但它的学名是：擦学。

Tribology has given me amazing projects.

擦学给我带来了许多精彩的项目。

Sounded simple enough, until I started to look at it as a tribologist, and then it became incredibly complex.

听起来很简单， 直到我从擦学家的角度来看待它，然后它就变得极其复杂了。

Holmberg and Erdemir have actually done some great studies showing the impact tribology research can have on reducing our energy consumption.

霍尔姆伯格和厄尔德姆实际上进行了一些出色的研究，展示了擦学研究对减少我们能源消耗的影响。

You see, I was destined to be a tribologist.

你看，我注定要成为一名擦学家。