量子力学揭秘（2014）（1）

就足以激发金属板上的电子
are enough to knock the electrons out of the metal plate
从而使金箔合拢
and collapse the gold leaf.
所以爱因斯坦的这个观点
So Einstein's idea that
光由无数小的粒子或者量子组成
light is made up of tiny particles or quanta
恰是光电效应的完美解释
is a wonderful explanation of the photoelectric effect.
我还记得当时我学到此时
I remember when I first learnt about this,
被其精炼而简洁的叙述所震惊
being blown away by its sheer elegance and simplicity.
再者 爱因斯坦那套精妙的理论也帮助解释了
But what's more, Einstein's nifty idea also helped solve
普朗克对灯泡的疑惑
Planck's mystery of the light bulb.
紫外线之所以微乎其微
There was more red than ultraviolet
是因为产生紫外光量子需要巨大的能量
because ultraviolet quanta took so much more energy to make,
是产生普通光量子的100倍以上
about 100 times more energy.
难怪在灯光中几乎不存在
No wonder there are so few of them.
20世纪初的那个年代
That moment at the beginning of the 20th century
预示着一场真正的科技革命
signalled a genuine revolution
因为那个时代的物理学家们正做着
because it demonstrated that the kind of physical science
像牛顿和拉普拉斯这样的巨匠所做的事情
that people were doing right back to Newton and Laplace,
而那个时代的每一个人都需要用全新的视角去审视问题
and people like that, that you needed a completely new approach.
从物理学基于那个时代所建立的意义来讲
Physics has never recovered from that moment
物理学家从未从那个时代的美梦中醒来
in the sense that it's built on that moment,
而那才是现代物理学的真正开端
that's where modern physics really began.
但爱因斯坦的理论
But Einstein's theory
仍留给物理学界一个迷糊不解的悖论
also left physicists with a dizzying paradox
挑战着人们的普遍认知
defying all common sense.
光作为一种波能解释影子和气泡的现象无可争辩
Light was definitely a wave which explained shadows and bubbles.
而现在它又被肯定是粒子
And now it was definitely a particle too -
爱因斯坦的量子说解释了光电效应
Einstein's quanta explaining the photoelectric effect
以及紫外灾难
and the ultraviolet catastrophe.
然而就在爱因斯坦提出他那绝妙而又疯狂的想法后没几年
Then just a few years after Einstein's brilliant, crazy idea,
这个佯谬
the paradox got a lot deeper and a whole lot weirder.
因为原本针对光的神秘本质的好奇
Because what seemed to be a curious mystery about light
似乎正演变为
was about to become a battleground
关于实在本质的激烈讨论
about the nature of reality itself.
1922年
1922.
西方世界正陷入一场变革
The Western world was in the grip of a revolution,
一场文化变革
a cultural revolution.
詹姆斯·乔伊斯的"尤里西斯"出版[后现代文学奠基者]
James Joyce's Ulysses is published,
斯特拉文斯基处在他事业的巅峰期[现代派音乐代表人物]
Stravinsky is at the height of his powers
而卓别林也发行了他第一部严肃题材电影
and Chaplin has just released his first serious movie.
奥斯曼土耳其帝国也在这一年陷落
The Ottoman Empire collapses.
欧洲仍从那场剥夺了数百万条人命的战争中
Europe is still recovering from the war to end all wars
缓慢恢复着他的元气
in which millions of men lost their lives.
而俄♥国♥成为了新兴的共♥产♥主义国家
Russia is newly communist.
与此同时 美国将爵士乐传遍全世界
Meanwhile, America is exporting jazz to the world.
多谢
Thank you.
在艺术 政♥治♥ 文学 经济等众多领域
'In arts, politics, literature, economics,
似乎对变革都垂涎三尺 望眼欲穿
'there was an insatiable appetite for change.
现代主义便由此诞生
'This was the birth of modernism.'
你有一颗秘不可测的心
You've got a heart that there's no way of knowing
能看到你来自何方 却看不到你去往何处
Can see where you are but can't see where you're going
我依然深陷这里
And I'm stuck here still
因我与你紧密纠缠
I'm tangled up with you
这整个世界如此不定
This whole world can be so uncertain...
但我所说的或许会冒犯到他们
But, and I might get into trouble for saying this,
因为我认为在此时物理学界所发生的剧变
I would argue that the upheaval that took place in physics
将会使得整个文化领域的变革黯然失色
at this time would eclipse them all
并也将带来更加深远长久的影响
and have far longer lasting consequences.
这一切始于不可思议且极具矛盾的
It had begun with the discovery of the weird
光的波粒二象性的发现
and contradictory wave/particle nature of light,
而终结于科学界最具分量的几位伟人之间
it ended up as an fought between the greatest minds
事关物理学走向的论辩
in science for the highest possible stakes -
实在的本质
the nature of reality itself.
我深知 你是我的归宿 你是我的救星
I know I deserve you, I know you're my saviour
可当我凝视你时 你却改了行径
But when I observe you, you change your behaviour...
一边是由一批现代主义革命的科学家所组成的新流派
'On one side, a new wave of modernist revolutionary scientists
其领袖人物是才华出众的丹麦物理学家 尼尔斯·波尔
'and their leader, the brilliant Danish physicist, Niels Bohr.
而在另一边 是理智之声的代表 阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦
'On the other side, the voice of reason, Albert Einstein,
他正处在事业的巅峰并闻名世界
'at the height of his powers and now world-famous,
是一位令人望而生畏的对手
'a formidable adversary.'
我与你紧密纠缠
Tangled up with you...
这场争论持续了数十年
The battle raged for decades.
而从某种意义上说 仍在进行
Actually, in some ways, it still does.
这也是场跨越了世界各个大学 学术会议
It was fought across the world in universities, at conferences,
酒吧以及咖啡馆的持久论战 这甚至会让成熟男人声泪俱下
in bars and cafes, it would reduce grown men to tears
而这却始于一个看似简单的实验
and it began with a deceptively simple experiment.
这个世界如此不定
This whole world can be so uncertain...
但奇怪的是 这甚至都不是一个关于光的实验
'But weirdly, it was an experiment that wasn't even about light,
而是关于能产生电的粒子的实验
'it was about the particles that make electricity.'
对某人而言
To somebody else...
在19世纪20年代中期 在美国新泽西州的贝尔实验室
In the mid-1920s, an experiment was carried out
进行着一项实验
at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey in America
而关于电子性质的发现 出乎了所有人的意料
which uncovered something entirely unexpected about electrons.
在当时 人们笃信不移的是
Now, at the time it was accepted without question
电子就是一种微小的物质
that electrons were these tiny lumps of matter,
细小并呈固体颗粒状 就像缩小版的台球
small but solid particles, like miniature billiard balls.
在实验中 他们往一块晶体上发射电子
In the experiment, they fired a beam of electrons at a crystal
想观察其分布状况
and watched how they scattered.
这就好比是用一束电子
Now, that's entirely equivalent to taking a beam of electrons,
即所谓的电子枪
say from an electron gun,
向一块前面设有两条细缝的屏幕发射
and firing it at a screen with two slits in it
从而使得电子先通过两条细缝
so that the electrons pass through the slits
再击中其后面的屏幕
and hit another screen at the back.
贝尔实验室的最终发现
What the Bell scientists found
震惊了整个物理学界
shocked the physics world to the core.
为了能理解其原因
To understand why,
可以用水波替代电子束再做相同的实验
consider a similar experiment with water waves.
我设计了一个很简单的实验
I've set up a simple experiment.
我在投影仪之前
I have a water ripple
放置了一个水波纹水箱
tank placed on top of an overhead projector,
并用一个小装置制♥造♥水波
I have a generator producing waves
使其通过这两个狭缝
that pass through two narrow gaps.
投影仪将水波纹的图像投影在墙面
The projector beams the image of the waves onto the back wall.
你能看到水波从左侧进入
You can see as the waves come in from the left
并挤入这两个狭缝
and squeeze through the two gaps,
然后传播到另一侧并相互干扰着彼此
they spread out on the other side and interfere with each other.
这意味着一束波的波峰
What this means is that when you get the crest from one wave
与另一束波的波峰相遇时
meeting the crest from another,
它们会叠加增强
they add up to make a higher wave.
但当一束波的波峰遇到另一束波的波谷时 它们则会抵消
But when the crest from one meets a trough, they cancel out.
这使得这些特征线形成
This gives rise to these characteristic lines
极具波特征的条纹图案
leading to the signature wave pattern.
黑白相间条纹
Bands of light and dark.
只要你看到了黑白相间条纹
Whenever you see these light and dark bands,
这种波特征的图案
the signature wave pattern,
那么你将确定无疑的是该物体具有波动性
you know without doubt that you've got wave-like behaviour.
所以再回头看看他们在新泽西所看到的
So guess what they saw in New Jersey.
发射出来的电子 即那些细小的固体粒子
Now it seemed that firing electrons, tiny solid particles,
穿过两条狭缝后在屏幕上所形成了几乎相同的图案
through the two gaps produced exactly the same kind of pattern,
黑白相间条纹
bands of light and dark.
首先 光长久以来被认为是一种波
First, light, for a long time believed to be a wave,
却被发现具有粒子性
was found to sometimes behave like particles
而电子长久以来被认为是一种粒子
and now electrons, for a long time believed to be particles,
结果却被发现有波动性
were behaving like waves.
但奇怪的远不止如此
But it was actually stranger than that.
这种波纹图案的形成并不仅仅是因为
The wave pattern wasn't merely some result
一整束电子的结果
of the entire beam of electrons.
然而之后在世界各地的实验室
More recently this experiment has been repeated
他们反复进行着此项实验 但每次仅发射单独一个电子
in labs around the world by firing one electron at a time
让其通过狭缝达到屏幕
through the slits onto the screen.
最初 每个电子似乎随机地分布在整块屏幕上
At first, each electron seems to land randomly on the screen.