宇宙时空之旅（2014）

Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey S01E10

Part 3 April 25, 2021, 12:41 p.m.

1977年卡尔·萨根《行星》
1991年理查德·道金斯《在宇宙中成长》
1994年苏珊·格林菲尔德《大脑中心之旅》
在早年的一场圣诞讲座中
At one of the first Christmas lectures,
法拉第所展示的
Faraday enchanted his audience
他掌握的这种新力量让观众们为之着迷
with displays of the new powers that were at his disposal.
假如我想引爆一堆火♥药♥
Suppose I want to fire a portion of gunpowder.
我就可以用电的力量来做
I can readily do it with the power of electricity.
如果电流从导线流经我
If I receive electricity through this conducting wire,
我就可以再把电传导给我碰到的东西
I can then give it to anything I touch.
但我必须站在绝缘的玻璃腿的凳子上
But I must stand on these insulating glass legs
以防电流传到地板中去了
to prevent the electricity from going away into the floor.
现在我带电了
Now I am electrified!
你们相信我现在只用手指碰一下
Do you think I could light this gas jet
就能点燃这盏煤气灯吗
just by touching it with my finger?
不别这样做不要
No, don't do it! No!
不不要
No! Don't!
注意哦不要在家里尝试这么做
Now, mind you, don't try this at home.
现在孩子们你们已经亲眼目睹了
And now, my children, you have seen for yourselves
电的无形力量
how this invisible force of electricity
可以完成一些以我们现在的能力
can be made to serve new purposes
完全无法办到的新事情
utterly unattainable by the powers we have now.
可持续工作的电动机的发明
The invention of a motor that could work continuously,
免除了人类无数小时的苦力劳役
eliminating countless human hours of drudgery,
这足以使你发一笔横财
would be more than enough to make you a fortune
并让你名垂青史
and land you in the history books.
但法拉第并没有这样做
But that's not how Michael Faraday saw it.
他对于为他的发明申请专利毫无兴趣
He had absolutely no interest in patenting his ideas
也没想过要从中大赚一笔
or personally profiting from them.
至于名垂青史
And as for the history books,
他也只为这部浩瀚长卷
he had only written the first sentence
写下了第一句
of an entry that would be many pages long.
安德生先生能请您把灯调暗一些吗
Mr. Anderson, may I ask you to dim the lights, please?
先生们我将要只通过移♥动♥一块磁铁
Gentlemen, I am about to induce a current of electricity
来制♥造♥出电流
merely by moving a magnet.
当我移♥动♥磁铁时
Please observe what happens
请观察两段导线的间隙处
in the gap between the wires when I do so.
你们看到了吗
Do you see how the current only flows
只有当磁铁移♥动♥时才有电流经过
when the magnet is moving?
这是把运动转化成电流
This is the conversion of motion into electricity.
这就是第一台发电机
This was the first generator.
从此电流便可在需要时产生
From here, electricity would become available on demand.
法拉第不断地改变着这个世界
Faraday was continuing to change the world
和人们的生活
and the way people lived,
然而突如其来地
and then, suddenly,
他那无与伦比的头脑被一种疾病侵袭
an illness attacked his incomparable mind.
克里斯蒂安·弗雷德日·舍恩拜因化学家
亲爱的舍恩拜
My dear Schoenbein,
我很想知道您关于...
I would be very grateful to have your opinion regarding...
关于...
Regarding...
亲爱的舍恩拜因... 关于...
我亲爱的丈夫怎么了
My dear husband, whatever is the matter?
我给舍恩拜因写信
I began a letter to Schoenbein
但是我想不起来我要写什么了
and could not remember what I meant to say.
别担心
This is no cause for alarm.
你工作太辛苦了
You work too hard.
-你累坏了 -不
- You're exhausted. - No.
撒拉这次不一样
Sarah, this is different.
截然不同
Horribly different.
这是几天以来我第三次记不起东西了
It's the third time my memory has failed me in as many days.
我恐怕是正在逐渐失忆
I fear I'm losing my mind.
失忆的我又有什么用呢
And what would I be without that?
为什么这么想你依然是我亲爱的丈夫
Why, my darling husband, of course.
当法拉第49岁时
When Faraday was 49,
他开始与严重失忆和抑郁症搏斗
he began to battle severe memory loss and depression.
他的事业遭遇瓶颈
His work came to a standstill.
虽然他从未痊愈
And although he never fully recovered,
但他最伟大的成就依然在前方等待他
his greatest achievements still lay ahead.
法拉第忘我地投身于
Faraday had immersed himself so deeply
电和磁的实验中
in electrical and magnetic experiments
他设想一块磁铁周围的空间中
that he came to visualize the space around a magnet
充满了无数看不见的磁力线
as filled with invisible lines of force.
磁不仅仅是你能看到的
A magnet was not simply the magnetized bar of iron
一块磁化了的铁
that you could see.
它也是磁铁周围空间内
It was also the unseen something
看不见的一种东西
in the space around the bar.
他称之为场
And that something he called a field.
磁场
A magnetic field.
法拉第相信自然的统一性
Faraday believed in the unity of nature.
证明了电和磁的联♥系♥之后
Having demonstrated the connections between electricity and magnetism,
他猜想这两种力是不是
he wondered, were these two forces
也与第三种现象光有关系
also connected to a third-- light?
如果他能展示出
If he could only show a connection
这三种看不见的现象之间的关系
among these three invisible phenomena,
那么最终自然界最本质的秘密之一
one of nature's most intimate secrets
将被揭开
would at last be revealed.
那么他是怎样做的呢
So, what did he do?
他设计了一个实验
He designed an experiment.
法拉第知道光以波的形式传播
Faraday knew that light can travel as a wave.
光波随机向各个方向振动
Waves of light vibrate randomly in all directions.
但还是有办法将某种特定的光波分离出来
But there's a way to isolate a single wave of light.
这被称作偏振
It's called polarization.
当光被反射面比如镜子
When light bounces off a reflective surface,
反射回来时
like a mirror,
它就成为偏振光
it becomes polarized.
法拉第想知道
Faraday wanted to see
一束偏振光能不能
if that single ray of light
被看不见的磁场控制
could be manipulated by the invisible magnetic field.
这种目镜中间有一块水晶
The eyepiece contained a crystal
就如同一道栅栏挡住了光线
that acted as a kind of picket fence for light.
光只有在被磁铁改变了
Light could only pass through it
才能穿过它
if it was somehow moved by the magnet.
他在镜子前放了一盏灯
He placed a lantern before a mirror,
只有在它的反射光穿过栅栏时
one that he would only see through the eyepiece
他才能从目镜中看见这盏灯
if its reflection could pass through the picket fence.
如果你觉得这很难理解别灰心
If this is hard to understand, don't feel bad.
此后的100年里科学家仍然无法
Scientists could not explain this phenomenon
解释这个现象
for another 100 years.
法拉第发现磁力对于空气中传播的光
Faraday knew that magnetism had no effect on light
没有影响
that was moving through air.
但如果是在其他物质中传播的光情况如何
But what about when it was moving through other materials?
他可以采用什么物质
So what kind of material could he use
让磁场改变光呢
to help the magnet move the light?
氨水
他尝试了数百种不同的
He tried hundreds of different
硫酸
透明的化学药品和其他物品
transparent chemicals and objects...
但目镜中仍然什么也看不到
but saw nothing through the eyepiece.
光没有被磁场扭转
The light was not twisted by the magnet.
他尝试过方解石结晶
He tried crystals of calcite,
碳酸钠
sodium carbonate,
硫酸钙
calcium sulfate,
他依然什么也没看见
and still, he saw nothing.
他也尝试过酸
He tried acids.
硫酸
Sulfuric acid,
盐酸
muriatic acid,
碳酸
carbonic acid.
他还尝试了各种气体
He tried gasses...
氧气氮气氢气
oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen...
没有成果
with no success.
磁场对于这些物质中的光
The magnetic field induced in these substances
不起作用
could not twist the light
都不能让他看到灯光
from his lamp back into view.
该死