宇宙时空之旅（2014）

Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey S01E05

Part 5 April 25, 2021, 12:40 p.m.

如果你有所触动
The feelings they inspire
那是因为你体内的某部分
happen when something inside you
被光波中某个特定频率
is triggered by a particular variation
携带特定能量的光激发
in the frequency and energy of light waves.
而其中的秘密
And the secret message?
夫琅和费光谱中的
Those black vertical lines
那些垂直黑线吗
in Fraunhofer's spectrum?
它们是怎么回事呢
What makes them?
当某些颜色的光
They occur when the light waves
被吸收后就出现了这些黑线
of those particular colors are being absorbed.
这一现象发生在世界的另一层面
It happens on another level of reality,
一个远小于我们熟悉世界的地方
far smaller than the world we're used to operating in.
要去到那里我们需要
To get there, we'll need to become
缩小百亿倍
ten billion times smaller than we are.
我们可以任意选择一个原子
We could pick any one of these atoms.
但我们还是以氢原子为例吧
But let's go for the hydrogen atom.
氢原子是宇宙中最多的一种原子
The hydrogen atom is the most plentiful kind of atom in the cosmos.
也是最简单的
And the simplest.
它只有一个电子
It has only one electron.
一个质子
And only one proton.
我们已经进入量子世界
We've entered the quantum realm.
这与我们平时的感觉完全不同
It doesn't correspond to ordinary human experience.
常识在这里完全没有用处
Common sense is no help here at all.
以氢原子的电子为例
Take the hydrogen atom's electron, for example.
在原子里电子
In an atom, an electron
并不存在于轨道之间
doesn't exist between orbitals.
它从一个轨道消失
It disappears from one orbital
又出现在另一个轨道上
and reappears in another.
就好像你搭乘电梯从二楼
It's as if you took an elevator from the second floor
坐至四楼但你却并没经过两层楼之间
to the fourth floor, but ceased to exist in between.
还有一件事
And another thing.
量子电梯只在某些楼层停留
Quantum elevators only stop at certain floors.
电子轨道的大小也有严格限制
The sizes of the electron orbits are strictly limited,
每种元素的原子都不尽相同
and different for the atoms of every element.
这就是为什么每种元素都如此特别
That's why the elements are different.
任何物质的化学性质
The chemistry of anything is determined
都由其电子轨道决定
by its electron orbits.
将电子限制在轨道中的力量
The force that holds an electron in orbit
与重力无关
has nothing to do with gravity.
而是一种电引力
It's a force of electrical attraction.
氢原子内电子围绕着原子核
The electron dances a wavy ring
做不规则旋转
around the central nucleus of a hydrogen atom.
在轨道和轨道之间做量子跃迁
And makes quantum leaps from orbit to orbit.
或上或下
Up or down.
轨道越大
The larger the orbit,
电子的能量越大
the greater the energy of an electron.
电子必须吸收能量
An electron has to get energy
才能跃迁到更大的轨道上
to leap to a larger orbit.
而跃迁回来则需释放能量
And it has to lose energy to jump back down.
每次向上的跃迁
Every upward leap is caused by...
都是由原子吸收光波造成的
an atom absorbing a light wave.
但我们尚不清楚什么原因导致了向下的跃迁
But we have no idea what causes the downward leaps.
但我们清楚的是每次跃迁
What we do know that such leaps
都能产生一条光波
always produce a light wave
光波的颜色与轨道之间
whose color matches the energy difference
能量的差距相符
between the orbitals.
太阳表面辐射出各种颜色的光波
The Sun's surface radiates light waves of all colors.
当你用棱镜观察一束太阳光时
If you look at sunlight through a prism,
你可以看见它的光谱
you'll see its spectrum.
当你用望远镜放大细看它的光谱时
When you magnify the spectrum with a telescope,
正如约瑟夫·夫琅和费所做
as Joseph Fraunhofer did,
你拉开了一扇帷幕
you raise the curtain
帷幕后是原子内起舞的电子
on the electron dance within the atom.
当电子的能量减弱时
When the energy of the electron flags,
它跃迁一个较低的轨道
and it drops to a lower orbital,
它产生的光发生散射
the light wave it emits scatters.
大部分的光无法抵达我们
Most of it doesn't reach us.
由此产生了光谱中的
That leaves a dark gap
深色阴影或者说垂直黑线
or black vertical line in the spectrum.
这些深色线条是
These dark lines
太阳大气里的氢原子
are the shadows cast by hydrogen atoms
投射出的阴影
in the atmosphere of the Sun.
钠原子投射出不同的阴影
Sodium atoms cast different shadows.
因为它们电子运行的轨道不同
Their electrons dance to a different tune.
一粒食盐由
A grain of table salt is composed
钠原子和氯原子组成
of sodium and chlorine atoms.
一粒盐里有
Ten million billion of them
一千万亿这样的原子
doing their crazy dances
疯狂起舞
in a single grain of salt.
有26个电子的铁原子里
And a single iron atom with 26 electrons
就像百老汇音乐剧场的
is like a great big production number
一场盛大演出
in a Broadway musical.
当你用摄谱仪观测一颗恒星时
When you look at a star with a spectroscope,
你将看到它大气里
you see the dark lines from all the elements
所有元素产生的黑线
in its atmosphere.
任何东西只要看一眼它的光谱
Show me the spectrum of anything,
不管是来自地球还是任何遥远恒星
whether here on Earth or from a distant star,
我就能告诉你它的构成
and I'll tell you what it's made of.
夫琅和费线是元素在宇宙中的
Fraunhofer's lines are the atomic signatures
通用原子签名
of the elements writ large across the cosmos.
和科学史上的每次重大发现一样
As with every other major revelation in the history of science,
它开辟了一条通往更新更深处秘密的道路
it opened the way to newer and deeper mysteries.
让我们明白光里
And to the revelation that there were
还隐藏着许许多多秘密
many more secrets hiding in the light.
当约瑟夫·夫琅和费
When Joseph Fraunhofer
把棱镜和望远镜结合起来
combined a prism with a telescope
观察天空时
and turned it toward the skies,
他让我们离恒星更近了一些
he brought the stars much closer to us.
但年仅39岁
When he was only 39,
他就得了重病
he contracted a fatal illness.
也许是因为从年幼时就长♥期♥曝露在
Perhaps as a result of his early and long-term exposure
用于制♥作♥玻璃的有毒物质中
to the toxic chemicals of glassmaking.
你永远无法知道下一位天才将来自哪里
You never know where the next genius will come from.
有多少天才被我们遗忘在废墟中
How many of them do we leave in the rubble?
因为一个对孤儿的善意之举
The prince and his kingdom were immeasurably enriched
王子和他的王国得到了巨大的收益
by that act of kindness to a poor orphan.
夫琅和费的发现将巴伐利亚
Fraunhofer's discoveries transformed Bavaria
从一个闭塞的乡村变成一个科技中心
from a rural backwater to a technological powerhouse.
在他垂危之际巴伐利亚政♥府♥迫切
As he lay dying, the government was desperate
希望保存下他关于制♥作♥高科技光学玻璃的
to preserve every shred of his precious knowledge
任何一点宝贵经验与知识
about the high technology of optical glass.
只有拥有最高安全权限的人
But it could only be divulged to a person
才有权查阅这些资料
with top security clearance--
玻璃工坊的最高管理者
the director of the mint.
巴伐利亚政♥府♥一直把夫琅和费
The government kept Fraunhofer's technology
制♥作♥完美光学玻璃的技术
for making perfect optical glass
当作国♥家♥机♥密♥ 隐藏了百年之久
a State secret for another hundred years.
这将给我们的旅程中
This would prove to be a major obstacle
稍后介绍到的一人造成巨大的障碍
for someone we'll meet later in our journey.
但对于他纯粹的科学研究
But Fraunhofer would allow no such secrecy
夫琅和费不同意这样的保密措施
where his pure scientific research was concerned.
他深知科学需要公开才能繁盛
He knew that science requires openness to flourish;
我们对自然的认知属于全世界
that our understanding of nature belongs to the world.
夫琅和费一发现光谱线的存在
As soon as Fraunhofer discovered the spectral lines,
就马上发表了关于这一现象的所有认知
he published everything he knew about them.
而关于他这一重大发现所造成的影响
And the reverberations of his momentous discovery
至今仍在
echo still.
他发现的光谱线让我们知道可见的宇宙
His spectral lines revealed that the visible cosmos
都是由相同的元素组成
is all made of the same elements.
所有行星
The planets...