与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S01E07

Part 2 April 19, 2021, 2:25 p.m.

卢瑟福之后，物理学家们继续向原子内部进军
After Rutherford, physicists probed further into the atom.
他们发现，原子包括3部分
They found that it is built out of three parts --
质子和中子组成了原子核
the protons and neutrons that form the nucleus
电子环绕着原子核
and the electrons that form the Shell around it.
在它们之间，构成了原子
Between them, they make up atoms.
原子组成分子
Atoms stick together and form molecules.
众多的分子
Out of the molecules,
组成了复杂的结构比如DNA
we get more complex shapes, from a strand of DNA...
人体最多可包含
...Up to the 7,000 trillion, trillion atoms
七千万亿万亿个原子
that form a human body.
一段时期内，原子理论
For a time, the atomic theory of the Universe
似乎解决了一切问题
seemed to explain most everything,
但是，科学家们开始打破原子
but then physicists started breaking atoms apart,
他们发现了大量神秘的新粒子
and they discovered a slew of mysterious new particles
把原有的理论搅了个天翻地覆
that turned their theories upside down.
最吓人的被称为反物质
The most frightening was called antimatter --
物质的邪恶孪生兄弟
matter's evil twin.
如果这么多的反物质接触到普通物质
If just this much touches ordinary matter,
能量足以夷平一座城市
it will level a city.
为什么科学家们如此致力于制♥造♥♥反♥物质？
So, why are scientists trying so hard to make it?
人们发现，它可能蕴含物质之谜的秘密
Turns out it may hold the secret to the mystery of matter.
当科学家第一次打碎原子
When scientists first smashed atoms apart,
他们发现了构成原子的材料
they uncovered their essential building blocks --
质子，中子，电子
protons, neutrons, and electrons.
然后，他们建造了
Next, they built machines
能够将这些小粒子碰撞
that let them smash these tiny pieces together,
从而创造出奇怪的新粒子的机器
and out came strange, new particles.
最奇怪的东西恐怕要数我们称之为反物质的了
Perhaps the strangest is the stuff we call antimatter --
极性相反的物质
matter's polar opposite.
宇宙中最具爆♥炸♥性的东西
It's the most explosive substance in the Universe.
当物质与反物质相遇
When matter and antimatter touch,
它们极其剧烈的互相消灭
they violently cancel each other out.
物理学家称之为“湮灭”
Physicists say, they annihilate each other.
伴随着极其巨大的爆♥炸♥
It triggers an enormous explosion.
爆♥炸♥有多厉害？
How big of an explosion?
不到半克的反物质
Less than half a gram of antimatter rice
可以产生13万吨♥当量的爆♥炸♥
would produce a 13-kiloton blast
相当于广岛原♥子♥弹♥的威力
as big as the Hiroshima bomb.
弗兰克·克洛斯教授，理论物理学家
Professor Frank Close is a theoretical physicist
供职于牛津大学
at Oxford University.
反物质正好是物质的相对面
Antimatter is a perfect opposite to matter.
如果我是反物质做成的
If I was made of antimatter,
我的行为和今天没啥两样
I would look exactly the same as I do today.
如果你仔细看看组成我的那些原子
If you looked at the atoms that I'm made of,
它们看上去和正常的原子也没什么不同
they would look exactly the same if I was made of antiatoms.
只有当你进入原子内部
It's only when you get inside the atoms
才能看出蹊跷
that you see the difference.
普通的原子中
That's the atoms that we're made of
带负电荷的电子
have little negatively charged electrons
围绕着带正电体积、质量巨大的原子核运转
whirling around a big, bulky, positive nucleus.
反物质呢？
And the antiatoms?
问这个男人
Ask this man --
乔尔·法扬斯
Joel Fajans,
一位反物质研究者
an antimatter investigator
供职加州大学巴克利分校
at the University of California, Berkeley.
宇宙中，反物质到处都是
Antimatter is everywhere in the Universe.
举个例子，这个香蕉中存在钾40
For instance, this banana contains potassium 40,
钾的一种同位素能够放射出正电子
an isotope of potassium which emits positrons.
正电子和其它粒子构成了反物质
Positrons and other forms of antimatter
困难的研究对象但正是我的工作
are difficult to study, however, and that's my job.
这就是我所做的研究反物质
That's what I do, is to study antimatter.
那边的那个试验
I was partially inspired to do this
给予了我极大的鼓励
by this experiment over here --
质子加速器
the Bevatron Accelerator
位于劳伦斯巴克利国家实验室
at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
质子加速器是第一个巨粒子加速器
The Bevatron was the first giant Particle Accelerator.
现在已经很破旧了但是在上世纪50年代
It's being torn apart now, but back in the '50s,
它可是世界物理研究的中心
it was the center of the world for physics research.
质子加速器所采用的
The same techniques that were used in the Bevatron
加速粒子的方法
to accelerate particles
现在被用于遍布全世界的
are now used in the enormous Particle Accelerators
各种巨粒子加速器
that are throughout the world.
粒子加速器有点像巨大的显微镜
Particle Accelerators are like giant microscopes
是我们能够观察亚原子世界
that let us peer into the subatomic world.
它们将物质打碎为最小的部件
They break matter down into its smallest components.
要想探测到反物质
Drilling down far enough to detect antimatter
需要从原子核中取出质子
requires taking protons from an atom's nucleus,
将它们束缚在真空中
trapping them in a vacuum,
然后将它们射入一个有巨大电磁场的环中
then shooting them into a ring of giant electromagnets.
一个粒子加速器是以
So, a Particle Accelerator works
在环中做圆周运动的质子开始的
by starting protons going around in a circle in a ring.
质子每转一圈
And every time they go around,
你利用电场给它们增加点动力
you give them a little kick with an electric field
于是它们越飞越快
so they get going faster and faster
越飞越快
and faster and faster...
直到接近光速
And faster until they're almost at the speed of light.
呃，在一个真正的粒子对撞机中
Well, they're going almost the speed of light
它们会几乎达到光速
in a real particle collider,
但在这里它们飞不了那么快
but here they're not going that fast...
飞不了
Yet.
这个方向的质子
So, protons in this direction...
与这个方向的质子互相影响
Interact with protons in this direction,
在某个点上
and at some point,
它们像撞车一样撞在一起
they come like a car crashing together.
你能够想像撞车后发生的事情吧
And you can imagine what happens when a car crashes together.
碎片四溅
Pieces fly all over,
碰撞点四周
and around that interaction point
在那汽车撞倒一起的地方
where the cars crashed together
就是我们探测的位置
is where we have our detector.
每秒钟里
So, and this happens,
这一切会发生好几百万百万百万次
millions and millions and millions of times every second.
当你打碎质子
When you break protons apart,
你就释放了难以置信的巨大能力
you release incredible amounts of energy.
爆♥炸♥造成了奇怪的事情
Strange things come out of the explosions,
在那十亿分之秒中
including tiny particles that flare into existence
各种粒子闪耀出现和消失
and disappear in billionths of a second --
包括反♥中♥子
particles like the antineutron
以及反质子
and the antimatter version of the proton.
理论家们在1920年代就预告了它们的存在
Theorists had predicted they existed in the 1920s.
几十年后，质子加速器证明了他们的正确
Decades later, the Bevatron proved they were right.
突然，我们自认为了解的世界
Suddenly, the world we thought we knew
展现了奇怪面貌
got a whole lot stranger.
放射性衰变产生正电子
Positrons from things like radioactive decays
正电子来自香蕉或者宇宙射线
like in the banana or cosmic rays
构成了反物质宇宙的半壁
form one half of an antimatter Universe.
反质子，来自如同这台机器的设备
Antiprotons from machines like this
还有宇宙射线以及其他自然放射源
and from cosmic rays and other natural sources
构成了反物质宇宙的另一半
form another half of an antimatter Universe.
将它们放在一起
Put them together,
你就会得到一个完成的反物质镜像宇宙
and you've got a complete antimatter mirror Universe
看上去就像是我们的宇宙一样
which just looks like ours
只不过万事都是反打锤所有东西都是镜像
except everything is backwards, everything is mirrored together.
这有点让人吃惊也许算的上震惊吧
And that's a little bit surprising, shocking maybe,
因为物质宇宙和反物质宇宙
because matter Universes and antimatter Universes
它们之间相当不和睦
aren't very compatible with each other,
当你把它们放在一起
because when you put them together,
只要稍稍接触它们就湮灭了
when they touch, they annihilate or blow up.
那么，我们究竟怎么站在这儿的？
So, how did we come to be here?
因为如果在宇宙中存在
Because if there is just as much matter
数量一样的物质和反物质
as antimatter in the Universe,