量子力学揭秘（2014）（1）

在这纷繁复杂的生活之中
Beneath the complexities of everyday life,
世间的法则似乎尤为简单
the rules of our universe seem reassuringly simple.
坚固的拱桥支撑着我的体重
This solid bridge supports my weight.
桥下潺潺的溪水总会沿地势向山下流淌
The water flowing underneath always goes downhill
而当我抛出这块石头
and when I throw this stone...
它总会沿着可预测的轨迹在空中滑翔
..It always flies through the air following a predictable path.
但当科学家们
But as scientists peered deep
深入探究物质的细微构成时
into the tiny building blocks of matter...
所有的这些都荡然无存
..All such certainty vanished.
他们发现了量子力学中的别样世界
They found the weird world of quantum mechanics.
深入观测我们周围的一切
Deep down inside everything we see around us,
我们就会发现一个与众不同的世界
we found a universe completely unlike our own.
也正印证了一位量子力学的奠基者所说
To paraphrase one of the founders of quantum mechanics,
我们所称之为真实的事物
everything we call real is made up of things
它们的构成却并非真实存在
that cannot be themselves regarded as real.
大约100年前 一些举世闻名的科学家
Around 100 years ago, some of the world's greatest scientists
开始了他们量子力学的探究之旅
began a journey down the rabbit hole
力图阐释这奇妙的世界
into the strange and the bizarre.
他们发现在这个微观世界
They found that in the realm of the very small,
事物可同时身处两地
things could be in two places at once...
他们命运则由概论所掌控
..That their fates are dictated by chance...
而实在本身则挑战着一切认知常识
..and that reality itself defies all common sense.
重要的是 我们对于这个世界
And at stake, that everything we thought
所感知的一切都可能被证明是错误的
we knew about the world might turn out to be completely wrong.
使我们陷入这疯狂般科学之路的故事
The story of our descent into scientific madness
则始于一件意想不到的东西
begins with the most unlikely object.
柏林 1♥8♥9♥0年
Berlin, 1♥8♥9♥0.
德国是一个新兴国家
Germany is a new country,
于近代才统一 并马不停蹄地推进着工业化进程
recently unified and hungry to industrialise.
在这个刚统一伊始的德国
In this newly-unified Germany,
一大批工程公♥司♥如雨后春笋般成立起来
a number of new engineering companies were founded.
他们斥资数百万马克来购买♥♥爱迪生于欧洲的
They'd spent millions buying the European patent
最新发明的专利权 电灯泡
for Edison's new invention, the light bulb.
电灯泡是现代科技的缩影
The light bulb was the epitome of modern technology,
人类社会进步的标志性象征
a great optimistic symbol of progress.
这些工程公♥司♥迅速意识到
Engineering companies quickly realised there were fortunes
为新德意志帝国安装路灯将带来巨大的利润
to be made building streetlights for the new German Empire.
但他们没有意识到的是 这也为一场科技革命
But what they didn't realise was that they would also unleash
敞开了大门
a scientific revolution.
说来也奇怪
Strangely enough,
这微不足道的电灯泡却为整个科学界
this humble object is responsible for the birth
最具分量的理论的诞生做出了贡献
of the most important theory in the whole of science -
量子力学 我毕其一生所研究的理论
quantum mechanics, a theory that I've spent my life studying.
而这是因为 倒回到19世纪
And that's because, back in 1900,
灯泡的发明也随之带来一个奇怪的问题
the light bulb presented a rather strange problem.
工程师们都知道 如果你用电来加热灯丝
Engineers knew that if you heated the filament with electricity,
它就会发光
it glowed.
而物理学家们在研究它时
The physics that underpinned this,
对其发光的原理一无所知
though, was completely unknown.
尤其涉及到灯芯的温度
But something as basic as the relationship
与其产生光的颜色之间的关系
between the temperature of the filament
这个基础的问题时
and the colour of light it produces
人们仍无法对其解答
was still a complete mystery.
显然这个未解之谜亟待破解
A mystery they were obviously keen to solve.
在新德国政♥府♥的帮助之下
And, with the help of the new German state,
科学家们在他们的竞争对手破解之前抢先了一步
they saw how to steal a march on their competitors.
1887年 德国政♥府♥斥资数百万马克
In 1887, the German government invested millions
在柏林投资建立了全新科研机构
in a new technical research institute here in Berlin,
德国物理技术研究院 简称PTR
The Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, or PTR.
之后 在1900年 他们招募了一位
Then, in 1900, they enlisted a bright
精明强干的科学家来帮助带领这里的研究
if somewhat straight-laced scientist to help work here.
他的名字就是马克斯·普朗克
His name was Max Planck.
普朗克选了个看似简单的问题
Planck took on a deceptively simple problem -
为什么光的颜色会随着灯芯温度的升高而改变
why the colour of the light changes as the filament gets hotter.
为了能更直观的体会到普朗克所面临的难题
To get a sense of the puzzle facing Planck,
我将骑一下这辆用老式发电机
I'm going to ride this bicycle with an old-fashioned lamp
来给老式电灯供电的自行车
powered by an old-fashioned dynamo.
很显然 我骑得越快 灯泡越亮
Obviously the faster I go, the brighter the light.
我蹬得越多 发电机产生的电量也就越多
The more I pedal, the more electricity the dynamo produces,
灯芯的温度越高 从而灯泡就越亮
the hotter the filament in the lamp and the brighter the light.
但是灯泡的灯光并不只是变得更亮
But the light the bulb makes isn't just getting brighter,
它的颜色同样也在改变
it's changing colour, too.
当我加速时 其颜色会从红变成橙再变为黄
As I speed up, the colour shifts from red to orange to yellow.
现在 我要加速了
Right, now I'm going to really belt it.
此时的灯芯变得更烫
Now the bulb's filament is getting even hotter,
但尽管灯光变得更为明亮
but although it certainly gets brighter...
而其颜色似乎却保持不变 始终是黄白色
..The colour seems to stay the same - yellow-white.
为什么光不会再变蓝呢
Why doesn't the light get any bluer?
为了探究这个问题 普朗克和他的同事建造了一个
To investigate, Planck and his colleagues built this,
黑体辐射器
a black-body radiator.
这是一个特殊的管状装置 它可以加热到极其精确的温度
It's a special tube they could heat to a very precise temperature
并用来测量光所产生的
and a way to measure the colour or frequency
颜色和频率
of the light it produced.
现在过了100多年后 德国物理技术研究院仍然在进行着
Nowadays, over 100 years later, the PTR still do exactly
同样的测量 只不过更精确罢了
this kind of measurement, just much more accurately.
这里面的温度有841摄氏度
The temperature inside here is 841 degrees centigrade.
我可以感觉到从里面传递出的热量
I can feel the heat coming off and it's glowing
并且它还散发着迷人的橘红色
with a lovely orangey-red colour.
这和我慢慢骑车时车灯上的颜色
It's about the same colour as my bike light
一模一样
when I'm cycling slowly.
但我仍想要再看看温度更高时的状况
But I want to see something hotter still.
这里有着将近2000摄氏度的高温
The temperature inside here is about 2,000 degrees centigrade...
此时发射出来的是更加明亮的白色光芒
..And it's glowing with a much brighter, whiter-coloured light.
要产生这种颜色和强度的光
To produce light of this intensity and colour
需要大约40千瓦的电力
requires a power of about 40 kilowatts.
这就相当于
Now, that's equivalent to
在自行车上以每秒400米的速度骑行
about 400 mes on a bike cycling very fast,
或者环法自行车赛全程所耗费的能量
or the combined output of the entire Tour de France.
尽管灯光更加白亮 呈现红白色
Although the light is whiter, it's red-white -
但仍几乎看不到蓝色
there's very little blue.
为何蓝色的产生要比红色更难
Why is blue so much harder to make than red?
在光谱的更远端 超出蓝色之后
And further up the spectrum, beyond blue,
就是所谓的紫外线 其产生难度可想而知
the so-called ultraviolet, is hardly produced at all -
即便观察如太阳那般火热的物体
even when we look at things as hot as the sun.
甚至对于太阳而言 其温度达到5500摄氏度
Even the sun, at a temperature 5,500 degrees centigrade,
所产生光的大部分都为可见光
produces mostly white visible light
而考虑到其炽热的温度 紫外光却微乎其微
and makes remarkably little ultraviolet light,given how hot it is.
到底是为什么
Why is this?
为何紫外光的产生如此之难
Why is ultraviolet light so hard to make?
对于这种经典理论所遇到的困境
This remarkable failure of common sense so perplexed scientists
19世纪末的科学家们给它起了一个极具戏剧性的名称
of the late 19th century that they gave it a very dramatic name.
他们把其称之为紫外灾难
They called it the ultraviolet catastrophe.
在攻克难题上 普朗克则迈出了至关重要的第一步
Planck took a crucial first step to solving this.
他发现了精确的数学表达
He found the precise mathematical link
将光的颜色 频率和其能量联♥系♥起来
between the colour of light, its frequency and its energy.
但他却不明白其关联有何意义
But he didn't understand the connection.
然而 另一个令人费解的现象
However, it was another weird anomaly
让本已不安的时局又蒙上一层阴影
that would really put the cat amongst the pigeons.
在19世纪末 科学家们纷纷研究着
In the late 19th century, scientists were studying
最新发现的无线电波
the then newly-discovered radio waves and
以及其传播的方式
how they were transmitted.
为了便于研究 他们建造了许多实验设备
And to do that, they were building experimental rigs
就比如类似这台 大体上说 就是旋转这个圆盘
very similar to this one. Basically, by spinning this disc,
从而能产生巨大的电压 进而导致迸发出的火花
they could generate huge voltages that caused sparks
穿过两个金属球之间的缝隙
to jump across the gap between the two metal spheres.
但在此过程中
But, in doing so,
他们发现在光的作用下会有意想不到的结果
they discovered something very unexpected to do with light.
他们发现
They found that,
用强光源照射这些球体
by shining a powerful light source on the spheres,
可以使火花更容易穿越缝隙
they could make the sparks jump across more easily.