宇宙时空之旅：未知世界（2020）

Cosmos: Possible Worlds S01E10

Part 1 Aug. 24, 2022, 10:55 a.m.

物质王国将其宝藏潜藏在
The kingdom of matter stores it treasures
许多层级上
on many levels.
而直到最近我们都还以为物质只有一层
Until recently, we thought there was only one.
我们不知道下面还有其他层级
We had no idea there were others.
当我们划亮火柴时发生的化学反应
When we strike a match, a chemical reaction liberates
会释放分子中存储的能量
energy stored in the molecules.
旧的化学键断裂新的化学键生成
Old chemical bonds break and new ones are forged.
现在相邻的分子运动加快
Now, the adjacent molecules begin to move faster
温度上升
and the temperature increases.
很快这个过程就会变成自蔓延
Soon, the process becomes self-propagated,
一种连锁反应
a kind of chain reaction.
火焰所象征的能量可能已被锁住多年
The energy represented by a flame has been locked,
锁在原子之间的化学键里
perhaps for many years, in chemical bonds between atoms.
通过围绕原子核的电子传递
Mediated by the electrons that revolved around their core.
当我们生火时
When we make a fire,
会释放这股隐藏的化学能量
we release this hidden chemical energy.
但是更深层的物质
But there is a deeper level of matter that
包含着另一种能量
houses another kind of energy.
就在原子的中心也就是原子核
Inside the heart of the atom, its nucleus.
这个隐藏的宝藏是数十亿年前
This hidden treasure was forged billions of years ago
在遥远的恒星炉形成的
in distant stellar furnaces.
早在地球形成以前
Long before Earth was formed.
它为恒星提供动力
It's what powers the stars.
从自然谋求这项知识
Wresting this knowledge from nature
是生命的传承仪式
is a cosmic rite of passage.
任何星球的生命若有能耐深入探索自然迷宫
The beings of any possible world clever enough to travel this deep into nature's labyrinth
最好自求多福
better take care.
星光的秘密可不是闹着玩儿的
The secret of starlight is nothing to fool with.
跟火一样它能够创造文明
Like fire, it can bring a civilization to life and it
也能摧毁一切
can burn it to the ground.
宇宙未知世界
什么是原子
What is an atom?
原子是由什么构成的？
What are they made of?
原子是如何结合在一起的？
How are they joined together?
原子这么小的东西
How could something as small as an atom
是怎么包含这么大的能量的？
contain so much power?
原子从何而来？
Where do atoms come from?
来自跟我们一样的地方
The same place we do.
当我们寻求原子的起源时
When we seek the origin of atoms,
我们也是在寻找自己的缘起
we are searching for our own beginnings.
这种探索引领我们前往空间与时间的深处
This quest takes us to the depths of space and time.
让我来给你们讲一个关于两个原子的故事
I want to tell you a tale of two atoms.
跟我来
Come with me.
很久以前在地球形成之前
Long ago, before there was an Earth,
有一缕稀薄的低温气体
there was a wisp of cold thin gas.
它的成分是最简单的原子
It was made of the simplest atoms.
因为引力而相互吸引
And they were gravitationally attracted to one another.
因而形成了一团云
So, the cloud grew.
原子的核心
The atoms contained small,
含有微小但沉重的粒子
but heavy particles in their nuclei.
氢气内有质子氦气内有质子和中子
The hydrogen had protons, the helium had neutrons as well.
两者都被高速运动的电子围绕着
They both had a skittering veil of electrons in orbit around them.
云内部的原子因引力被拉近
The atoms in the interior of the cloud moved ever faster
而移♥动♥得更快
as gravity pulled them ever closer together.
直到整个云体塌缩
Until the whole thing collapsed in on itself.
塌缩会使温度飙高
This collapse raised the temperature so high,
让云体变成自然的核融合反应器
that the cloud became a natural fusion reactor.
换句话说就是一颗恒星
In other words, a star.
原子依照物理法则运动
Atoms operating according to the laws of physics met
在无尽的黑暗中相遇并融合
and fused in the unbroken darkness.
接着光出现了
And then there was light.
在基本粒子浮动的内部
In this froth of elementary particles,
其中一个原子的原子核
the nucleus of one of the atoms,
形成了氦原子
a helium atom, was formed.
几十亿年后恒星老去
After billions of years, the star is now elderly.
所有的氢燃料转化为氦
Having converted all of its available hydrogen fuel to helium.
现在恒星的死期已至
Now that it's time for the star to die,
它重新开始新生期的向内自转
it resumes the turning inward of its infancy.
你能找到我们的氦原子吗
Can you find our helium atom?
它和另外两个氦原子结合
It joined with two others to become
成为了我们的英雄碳原子
one of our heroes, a carbon atom.
它位于恒星核心内
That's what in the hearts of stars.
我们的碳原子很快地
Soon, our carbon atom will tumble out of this
会从红巨星滚落太空星际海
red giant star into the interstellar ocean of space.
我们用蓝色标记这个原子
We've tinted this atom blue so you can find it
让你能在茫茫星海中找到它
in the vastness.
与此同时在银河系的另一区域
Meanwhile, in another part of the galaxy.
如恒星的诞生与陨落一般
Similar processes were unfolding as stars were
类似的历史进程正在上演
born and died.
我们故事的另一个原子
The other atom of our tale was formed in the heart
在这颗濒死恒星的核心形成
of this dying star.
在变身超新星的爆♥炸♥性过程中
In the catastrophic process of going supernova,
226个质子和中子融合成一个碳原子
226 protons and neutrons became fused to a carbon atom.
接着变成一个铀原子
Turning it into a uranium atom.
我们将这另一个原子标记为红色
We've tinted our other hero atom red,
这样你就能追踪他的时空历程
so that you could follow it on its odyssey through space and time.
因缘巧合下
As chance would have it,
在广阔的银河系漫游后
after wandering the vast Milky Way galaxy,
两个原子刚好相遇
our two atoms both happened on the fiery birth
促成一个小太阳系的热烈诞生
of a small solar system.
我们的太阳系
Ours.
我们的碳原子跋涉千里成为一颗小行星的部分
Our carbon atom has traveled far to become part of a small planet.
几十亿年后它加入了一个极其复杂的分子
After billions of years, it joined an extremely complex molecule,
这个分子拥有自我复♥制♥的特性
which has the peculiar property of a making virtually identical copies of itself.
碳原子在其诞生初始扮演一个小角色
The carbon atom plays its tiny role in the origin of life.
在化为形体的过程中
Through all its incarnations,
我们的碳原子没有自我意识
our carbon atom has had no self-awareness.
没有自♥由♥意志
No free will.
它只是广大的宇宙机器中一个极小的齿轮
It is merely an extremely minor cog in some vast cosmic machinery,
依循着自然法则运作
working in accord with the laws of nature.
另一个原子呢
And that other atom?
那个超新星中形成的铀原子？
The uranium atom made in the supernova?
它变成什么了呢？
What has become of it?
我们的世界是浴火而生的
Our world was born in fire.
而这个小原子受其吸引
And this tiny atom was drawn to it.
或许它是随着超新星的爆♥炸♥波而来
Maybe it rode the explosive wave of a supernova.
又或者它是被太阳的引力吸引而来的
Or perhaps, it was attracted by the gravity of our sun and
被拉到越来越深的内部
pulled down deeper and deeper into the interior,
比地狱还更深的地方
which was even more of a hell.
地球表面很快就冷却了
The Earth's surface soon cooled,
内部却持续熔化
but the interior remained molten.
岩浆慢慢流动我们的铀原子发现
The magma slowly circulating and our uranium atom found
自己在经年累月后
itself carried over the ages, from the deep interior,
从地心深处被带回到表面
back all the way up to the surface.
虽然地心深处是高温高压
Despite the high temperatures and pressures deep within the
我们的原子依然保持完整
Earth, our atom's integrity was never threatened.
原子微小且古老坚硬又持久
Atoms are small, old, hard and durable.
所有东西都是原子构成的包括我们
Everything is made of atoms, including us.
但直到19世纪的最后几年
But until the last years of the 19th Century,
我们都还不了解原子内部疯狂的活动
we didn't know about the frenzied activity inside the atom.
这时银河系两端的两个原子
And this is where our two atoms from opposite ends of
终于相遇了
the Milky Way galaxy finally met.
就发生在巴黎
It happened in Paris.
我们的碳原子成为了
Our carbon atom became part of the retina of one of
全球最伟大科学家的视网膜的一部分
the world's greatest scientists.
这是在X射线被发现后的几年
This was just a few years after the discovery of x-rays.
玛丽·居里和她的丈夫兼研究伙伴皮埃尔
Marie Curie and her husband and research partner,
想要了解一项物质
Pierre, wanted to know how a piece of matter could make it
如何能穿透皮肤甚至是墙面
possible to see through skin and even walls.
全球仅有少数地方的矿石
The knowledge that there were rare places in the world where
包含具有此特性的铀元素