故事发生在19世纪初 At the dawn of the 19th century,
在Mayfair的一间地下室里 in a cellar in Mayfair,
当时最富盛名的科学家 汉弗莱戴维 the most famous scientist of the time, Humphry Davy,
建造了一台意义非凡的电子设备 built an extraordinary piece of electrical equipment.
它有4米宽 8米长 Four metres wide, twice as long
堆满了酸液与金属片 and containing stinking stacks of acid and metal,
它的发电规模之大 it had been created to pump out more electricity
史无前例 than had ever been possible before.
事实上 这是当时 It was in fact the biggest battery
世界上最大的电池 the world had ever seen.
凭借这枚电池 Davy即将开启 With it, Davy was about to propel us
一个新的纪元 into a new age.
实验将在皇家学院里进行 That moment would take place at a lecture at the Royal Institution,
伦敦的数百位科学家和名人都将到场观看 in front of hundreds of London's great and good.
学院里座无虚席 满怀期待的人们 Filled with anticipation, they packed the seats,
希望能见证一种新的电学现象 hoping to witness a new and exciting electrical wonder.
然而 不寻常的一幕发生了 But what they would see that night would be something truly unique.
这一幕 令他们终生难忘 Something they would remember for the rest of their lives.
使用两根普通的碳棒 Using just two simple carbon rods,
汉弗莱戴维向人们展示了电的潜能 Humphry Davy was about to unleash the true potential of electricity.
电 是自然界最摄人心魄的力量之一 Electricity is one of nature's most awesome phenomena,
我们所能见到的电学现象中 and the most powerful manifestation of it we ever see
最壮观的莫过于闪电 is lightning.
在本片中 我们将讲述人类曾如何梦想着 This is the story of how we first dreamed of controlling
控制这种自然之力 this primal force of nature,
以及我们最终征服它的曲折历程 and how we would ultimately become its master.
这个历时300年的故事里 It's a 300-year tale
处处闪现着人类的想象与创造之光 of dazzling leaps of imagination and extraordinary experiments.
数万伏的高压电穿过他的身体 Tens of thousands of volts passed across his body
流向了他手持的灯 and through the end of a lamp that he was holding.
才华横溢的科学家们 It's a story of a maverick geniuses
利用电能 点亮城市 who used electricity to light our cities,
跨越天空和海洋 传递信息 to communicate across the seas and through the air,
创造现代工业 为我们带来了数码新时代 to create modern industry and to give us the digital revolution.
在这一集中 我们将讲述电学家先驱们 But in this film, we'll tell the story of the very first scientists
是如何开始探索电的秘密的 who started to unlock the mysteries of electricity.
这里面仿佛有生命一样 It's as though there's something alive in there.
他们研究电和生命的关系 They studied its curious link to life,
他们制造出新奇的仪器 制造电能 built strange and powerful instruments to create it
甚至试图控制闪电 and even tamed lightning itself.
他们的研究 构成了现代世界的基础 It was these men who truly laid the foundations of the modern world.
而一切的开始 只源于一个火花 And it all started with a spark.
翻译：statm 鸣镝 胡大田 女侠阿呆 校对：女侠阿呆
第一集 灵光乍现
如果这世界没有了电能 Imagine our world without electricity.
我们就会陷入黑暗 It would be dark,
寒冷和寂静 cold and quiet.
就像回到了18世纪早期 In many ways, it would be like the beginning of the 18th century,
而故事 就从那个时候开始 where our story begins.
这里是伦敦的皇家学会 This is the Royal Society in London.
18世纪初 在怀才不遇多年后 In the early 1700s, after years in the wilderness,
艾萨克·牛顿终于掌握了大权 Isaac Newton finally took control of it
他的对手Robert Hooke去世了 after the death of his arch-enemy, Robert Hooke.
牛顿把关键职位安排给他的手下 Newton brought in his own people to the key jobs,
以便稳固他的领导地位 to help shore up his new position.
35岁的Francis Hauksbee被任命为首席实验师 The new head of demonstrations there was 35-year-old Francis Hauksbee.
1705年皇家学院的记录里显示 Notes from the Royal Society in 1705
Hauksbee使尽浑身解数 reveal how hard Hauksbee tried
想要凸显出自己的能力 to stamp his personality on its weekly meetings,
他做了许多标新立异的实验 试图博取上司的赏识 producing ever more spectacular experiments to impress his masters.
11月时 他制造了这个 In November, he came up with this -
能旋转的空心玻璃球 a rotating glass sphere.
他通过一台新式的空气泵 He was able to remove the air from inside it using a new machine -
抽去玻璃球里的空气 the air pump.
这台仪器上有一个手柄 用来旋转玻璃球 On his machine, a handle allowed him to spin the sphere.
当礼堂里的蜡烛一一熄灭后 One by one, the candles in the room were put out
Francis把手放在了球上 and Francis placed his hand against the sphere.
奇妙的一幕呈现在了观众眼前 The audience were about to see something amazing.
“在玻璃球里 'Inside the glass sphere,
“出现了一道朦胧的光 'a strange ethereal light began to form,
“这束光芒围着他的手婆娑流动 'dancing around his hand.
“从没有人见过这种光” 'A light no-one had ever seen before.'
这太神奇了 That's fantastic.
你看 这一道蓝色的光晕 You see a beautiful blue glow, it's just marking out
勾勒出我手的轮廓 在玻璃球里面流动 the shape of my hands, but then going right round the ball.
这里面仿佛有生命一样 It's as though there's something alive in there.
也许你很难理解 It's difficult to really understand
这束蓝光有什么特别的意义 why this dancing blue light meant so much,
但要知道 在当时 but we have to bear in mind that at the time,
人们将这种自然现象理解为上帝显灵 natural phenomena like this were seen to be the work of the Almighty.
当时 甚至在牛顿的理论中 This was still a period when, even in Isaac Newton's theory,
也把不少东西归因于上帝的作用 God was constantly intervening in the conduct of the world.
这样一来 不少人 It made sense for a lot of people
都把自然现象看作是上帝的施为 to interpret natural phenomena as acts of God.
所以 当一个凡人模仿出上帝的杰作时 So when a mere mortal meddled with God's work,
这几乎是不可理喻的 it was almost beyond rational comprehension.
然而 霍克斯比并未完全看出这次实验的意义 Hauksbee never realised the full significance of his experiment.
他对玻璃球实验失去了兴趣 He lost interest in his glowing sphere
在余下的几年里 and spent the last few years of his life
他设计制造了各种有趣的的实验 building ever more spectacular experiments
帮助牛顿测试其他的理论 for Isaac Newton to test his other theories.
他并不知道 自己在无意间 He never realised that he had unwittingly started
已然推开了电学的大门 an electrical revolution.
在霍克斯比之前 电只不过是一种稀罕的玩物 Before Hauksbee, electricity had been merely a curiosity.
古希腊人通过摩擦琥珀（希腊语electron） The ancient Greeks rubbed amber, which they called electron,
来体验电击的触感 to get small shocks.
连女王伊丽莎白一世 Even Queen Elizabeth I marvelled
也被静电吸引羽毛的实验所吸引 at static electricity's power to lift feathers.
但有了霍克斯比的装置后 But now Hauksbee's machine
人们通过转动手柄便能轻易地获得静电 could make electricity at the turn of a handle,
而且能看到它 and you could see it.
更重要的是 他的发明 Perhaps even more importantly, his invention coincided
和当时横扫欧洲大陆的启蒙运动 with the birth of a new movement sweeping across Europe
恰好处在同一时期 called the Enlightenment.
在启蒙运动中 人们用理性探索世界 Enlightened intellectuals used reason to question the world
这促使了批判性政治 and their legacy was radical politics,
反偶像崇拜性艺术 iconoclastic art
以及自然哲学 也就是科学的诞生 and natural philosophy, or science.
讽刺的是 霍克斯比的设备 But ironically, Hauksbee's new machine
并没有立即被启蒙运动的发起者所接受 wasn't immediately embraced by most of these intellectuals.
相反 它成为魔术师的玩物 But instead, by conjurers and street magicians.
这些对电感兴趣的人 Those with an interest in electricity
自称为“电学家” called themselves electricians.
在奥地利皇宫的宴会上 发生过这样一个故事 One story tells of a dinner party attended by an Austrian Count.
一位“电学家”把羽毛放在桌子上 The electrician had placed some feathers on the table
然后 用丝绸手帕摩擦玻璃棒 and then charged up a glass rod with a silk handkerchief.
接着 他用这根玻璃棒吸起了羽毛 He then astonished the guests by lifting up the feathers
客人们大感惊奇 with the rod.
接下来 他用霍克斯比的起电装置 He then went on to charge himself up
让自己带上了静电 using one of Hauksbee's electrical machines.
再通过触摸让观众感受到一阵阵微弱电击 He gave the guests electric shocks,
场面沸腾 众口称奇 presumably to squeals of delight.
不过 他的压轴好戏 But for his piece de resistance,
是把一杯白兰地放在桌子上 he placed a glass of cognac in the centre of the table,
让自己带上静电 charged himself up again
然后用指尖的火花点燃了白兰地 and lit it with a spark from the tip of his finger.
还有一个戏法 叫做电学宣福 There was a trick called the electrical beatification,
“受福者”坐在绝缘的椅子上 in which the victim sits on an insulated chair
上方悬挂着一个金属王冠 and above his head hangs a metal crown
而王冠并不接触他的头部 that doesn't quite touch his head.
当王冠带电后 And then if the crown is electrified,
就会在周围开始放电 then you get an electric discharge around the crown
产生一个光晕般的景象 that looks exactly like a halo,
所以这个实验被称作“电学宣福” which is why it's called the electric beatification.
英国和欧洲的人们对电学戏法愈发痴迷 As England and the rest of Europe went electricity crazy,
电学表演也变得越来越壮观 the spectacles grew bigger.
好奇心更重的电学家们 The more curious electricians
开始提出更深刻的问题 started to ask more profound questions,
他们开始研究 除了让表演规模更大 更吸引眼球外 not only how can we make our shows bigger and better,
我们要怎样控制这种神奇的力量？ but how can we control this amazing power?
有的人更是在思考 这奇异的电火花 And for some, can this incredible electrical fire
除了观赏 还有什么别的用处吗？ do more than just entertain?
对于这些问题 最早的突破 One of the first early breakthroughs would never have happened
来自一场可怕的事故 had it not been for a terrible accident.
这里是伦敦中部的卡尔特修道院 This is Charterhouse in the centre of London.
在过去的400年里 它作为一所慈善机构 Over the past 400 years, it's been a charitable home
接纳孤儿和老年人到此居住 for young orphans and elderly gentleman.
18世纪20年代 Stephen Gray也住进了这里 And sometime in the 1720s, it also became home to one Stephen Gray.
Stephen Gray原本是坎特伯雷 Stephen Gray had been a successful
一位成功的丝绸印染商 silk dyer from Canterbury.
他经常看到丝绸上出现的电火花 He was used to seeing electric sparks leap from the silk
对此非常着迷 and they fascinated him.
不幸的是 一场巨大的灾难葬送了他的事业 Unfortunately, a crippling accident ended his career
使他家徒四壁 and left him destitute.
后来 卡尔特修道院接纳了他 But then he was offered a new life here at Charterhouse
于是 他便有时间从事自己的电学实验 and with it the time to perform his own electrical experiments.
当年 或许正是在这间大厅里 Here at Charterhouse, possibly in this very room, the Great Chamber,
Stephen Gray立起了一个木头架 Stephen Gray built a wooden frame
上面用丝绳系着两个秋千 and from the top beam he suspended two swings using silk rope.
他也有一台类似霍克斯比起电器的装置 He also had a device like this, a Hauksbee machine
可以产生静电 for generating static electricity.
在许多观众面前 Now, with a large audience in attendance,
他让卡尔特的一名孤儿 he got one of the orphan boys who lived here at Charterhouse
躺在两个秋千上 to lie across the two swings.
Gray把几片金叶子放在他面前 Gray placed some gold leaf in front of him.
然后 他开始发电 He then generated electricity
通过一根导线 把电流输送到男孩身上 and charged the boy through a connecting rod.
金叶子 还有羽毛 纷纷飞向男孩的指尖 Gold leaf, even feathers, leapt to the boy's fingers.
一些观众说 他们甚至看到了 Some of the audience claimed they could even see sparks
男孩手指上发出的火花 景象十分引人入胜 flying out from his fingertips. Show business indeed.
但对于满腹好奇的Stephen Gray来说 But to the curious and inquiring mind of Stephen Gray,
这一幕另有意义 this said something else as well -
这展示出 电是可以转移的 electricity could move,
它从起电器转移到男孩的身上 直到他的双手 from the machine to the boy's body, through to his hands.
但丝绳却让它停了下来 But the silk rope stopped it dead.
也就是说 这神奇的电 It meant the mysterious electrical fluid
能穿过某些物体 could flow through some things...
而不能穿过另一些物体 ..but not through others.
于是 Gray将所有物质分为两类 It led Gray to divide the world into two different kinds of substances.
绝缘体和导体 He called them insulators and conductors.
绝缘体将电能存留在其中 Insulators held electric charge within them
并阻止它自由移动 比如丝绸 头发 and wouldn't let it move, like the silk or hair,
玻璃 或是树脂 glass and resin.
而导体 则允许电流经过 Whereas conductors allowed electricity to flow through them,
比如男孩 或各种金属 like the boy or metals.
这种区分方式至今仍然十分重要 It's a distinction which is still crucial even today.
就拿电塔来说 Just think of these electric pylons.
它们的工作原理 和Gray在300年前的这个结论 They work on the same principle that Gray deduced
依然是完全一致的 nearly 300 years ago.
电线是导体 The wires are conductors.
玻璃和陶瓷是绝缘体 The glass and ceramic objects
把它们放置于电线与电塔的金属主体之间 between the wire and the metal of the pylon are insulators
能阻止电流通过导线 that stop the electricity leaking from the wires
漏入塔身与地面 into the pylon and down to the earth.
它们起到的作用 跟Gray实验中的丝线是一样的 They're just like the silk ropes in Gray's experiment.
在1730年 Back in the 1730s,
Gray的实验让所有观众叹为观止 Gray's experiment may have astounded all who saw it,
但它仍然有很大的不足 but it had a frustrating drawback.
Gray尝试了各种方法 Try as he might,
却无法长时间储存他制造的电能 Gray couldn't contain the electricity he was generating for long.
电从起电器流动到男孩身上 之后便很快消失了 It leapt from the machine to the boy and was quickly gone.
而接下来的故事 The next step in our story came
就是人们寻找储存电能的经历 when we learnt how to store electricity.
但这并非发生在英国 But that would take place not in Britain,
而是在海峡对岸的欧洲大陆 but across the Channel in mainland Europe.
和英国人一样 彼岸的电学家们 Across the Channel, electricians were just as busy
也在积极地研究电现象 一座电学研究中心 as their British counterparts and one centre for electrical research
坐落在荷兰莱顿 was here in Leiden, Holland.
就在这里 一位教授完成了一项 And it was here that a professor came up with an invention
18世纪最重要的发明 that many still regard as the most significant of the 18th century,
时至今日 它的原理 one that in some form or another can still be found
仍然广泛地被各种电子设备使用 in almost every electrical device today.
这位教授名叫Pieter van Musschenbroek That professor was Pieter van Musschenbroek.
和霍克斯比与Gray不同 Unlike Hauksbee and Gray,
Musschenbroek生于学术世家 Musschenbroek was born into academia.
有意思的是 他的重要发现 But ironically enough, his breakthrough
不是源于严谨的科研 came not because of his rigorous science,
而是因一个简单的操作失误 but because of a simple human mistake.
当时 他正在研究如何储存电荷 He was trying to find a way to store electrical charge,
并准备做出相关实验 ready for his demonstrations. And you can almost hear
他的思路非常清楚 his train of thought as he tries to figure this out.
如果电是像水一样四处流动的流体 If electricity is a fluid that flows, a bit like water,
那么 储蓄水的方法应该也适用于储蓄电 then maybe you can store it in the same way that you can store water.
于是Musschenbroek在他的实验室 So Musschenbroek went to his laboratory
开始尝试制作一个储电装置 to try to make a device to store electricity.
他开始了细致的思考 Musschenbroek started to think literally.
他将水倒入玻璃瓶里 He took a glass jar and poured in some water.
随后 在瓶中安插了一根导线 He then placed inside it a length of conducting wire...
导线的另一头 则连接了霍克斯比起电器 ..which was connected at the top to a Hauksbee electric machine.
接着 他为了保留住电荷 'Then he put the jar on an insulator
将瓶子放在了一块绝缘体上 to help keep the charge in the jar.'
最后 他将起电器产生的电 He then tried to pour the electricity into the jar
通过导线 produced by the machine via the wire
引入瓶里的水中 down through into the water.
可他无论如何都没法把电荷留在瓶子里 'But whatever he tried, the charge just wouldn't stay in the jar.
有一天 出于意外 'Then one day, by accident,
他忘了把瓶子放在绝缘体上 'he forgot to put the jar on the insulator,
手握着瓶子就开闸放电 'but charged it instead while it was still in his hand.'
他一只手拿着瓶子 Finally, holding the jar with one hand,
另一只手碰了下盖子 he touched the top with the other
结果受到了猛烈电击 and received such a powerful electric shock,
他几乎当场跌倒在地 he was almost thrown to the ground.
他记录道 “这个实验新颖却又可怕 He writes, "It's a new but terrible experiment
“建议大家切勿尝试 "which I advise you never to try. Nor would I, who've experienced it
“我蒙上帝庇护 才得以幸免于难 "and survived by the grace of God do it again
“为了整个法兰西王国 我自己也不会再试第二次” "for all the kingdom of France."
我现在决定听取他的建议 不去碰瓶盖 So I'm going to heed his advice, not touch the top,
不过 我想看看我能不能激起火花来 and instead see if I can get a spark off of it.
从这个瓶中涌出的电 The sheer power of the electricity which flew from the jar
威力空前巨大 was greater than any seen before.
更不可思议的是 And even more surprisingly,
这个瓶子可以将电存储数小时 乃至几天 the jar could store that electricity for hours, even days.
为了纪念这座Musschenbroek作出发明的城市 So in honour of the city where Musschenbroek made his discovery,
这个装置被称为“莱顿瓶” they called it the Leiden jar.
声名远播至全世界 And its fame swept across the world.
很快 1745年到1750年间 And very rapidly, from 1745 through the rest of the 1740s,
“莱顿瓶”成了享誉全球的新事物 the news of this - it's called the Leiden jar - goes global.
往东传到了东亚日本 It spreads from Japan in East Asia
向西传到了美国东部的费城 to Philadelphia in eastern America.
莱顿瓶成了第一个迅速全球化的新发明 It became one of the first quick, globalised, scientific news items.
虽然莱顿瓶风靡全球 But although the Leiden jar became a global electrical phenomenon,
其原理却不为人所知 no-one had the slightest idea how it worked.
当你手握一瓶带电流体时 You have a jar of electric fluid,
如果你让它通过你的身体流进地面 and it turns out that you get a bigger shock from the jar
遭到的电击竟会更强烈 if you allow the electric fluid to drain away to the earth.
为什么电漏掉了 电击反而更猛？ Why is the shock bigger if the jar's leaking?
为什么当所有的电都还在瓶子里的时候 Why isn't the shock bigger if you make sure all the electric fluid
电击反而弱一些？ stays inside the jar?
这就是18世纪电学研究者们 That was how mid-18th century electrical philosophers
所面临的难题 were faced with this challenge.
电无疑成了一个诡异的谜 Electricity was without doubt a fantastical wonder.
它能让人触电并产生火花 It could shock and spark.
现在也能被储存并四处转移 It could now be stored and moved around.
可是 电的本质 Yet what electricity was, how it worked,
还有各种奇怪的电效应 and why it did all these things
都没有人能够解答 was nothing less than a complete mystery.
不到10年内 另一项重要的新突破 Within 10 years, a new breakthrough was to come
在一个人们始料未及的地方出现了 from an unexpected quarter,
做出这个突破的 是一个在政治上与思想上 From a man politically and philosophically at war
都与伦敦当局背道而驰的人 with the London establishment.
更令自命不凡的英国学者们吃惊的是 And even more shockingly for the British electrical elite,
他只是一个小小的英属殖民地居民 that man was merely a colonial.
一个美国人 An American.
这张本杰明·富兰克林的画像 This painting of Benjamin Franklin
悬挂在英国皇家学会的墙上 hangs here at the Royal Society in London.
富兰克林坚定地支持美国独立 Franklin was a passionate supporter of American emancipation
他也相信 对理性科学的研究 and saw the pursuit of rational science,
尤其是对电学的探索 and particularly electricity,
可以用来反驳愚昧无知且傲慢自大的权贵们 as a way of rolling back ignorance, false idols
继而成为对抗宗主国所谓学术精英们的有力武器 and ultimately his intellectually elitist colonial masters.
他与他的同道们将这样的想法 And this is mixed
与平等和民主的思想结合了起来 with a profoundly egalitarian democratic idea
他们相信 that Franklin and his allies have,
电 既然是众所周知的现象 那么谁都有权去研究它 which is this is a phenomenon open to everyone.
有些东西精英们没弄明白 Here's something that the elite doesn't really understand
而我们也许能弄明白 and we might be able to understand it.
有些东西他们没法控制 Here's something that the elite can't really control
而我们也许能控制 but we might be able to control.
尤其是那些被认为是超自然的事物 And here's something above all which is the source of superstition.
我们这些理性的 主张人人平等的 And we, rational, egalitarian,
有民主思想的知识分子 potentially democratic, intellectuals,
要客观地推出它们的原理 we will be able to reason it out,
而不是去当鼓吹魔法和神秘主义的傀儡 without appearing to be the slaves of magic or mystery.
因此 富兰克林决定依靠理性的力量 So Franklin decided to use the power of reason
合理地解释一个被许多人 to rationally explain what many
认为是魔法的现象... considered a magical phenomenon...
闪电 Lightning.
这应该是18世纪科学史上 This is probably one of the most famous scientific images
最著名的一幕 of the 18th century.
英雄般的科学家本杰明·富兰克林 It shows Benjamin Franklin, the heroic scientist,
在暴风雨中放风筝 flying a kite in a storm,
最终证明闪电也是电的一种 proving that lightning is electrical.
但是 尽管富兰克林设计了这个实验 But although Franklin proposed this experiment,
他自己却从未将它付诸实践 he almost certainly never performed it.
更可靠的说法是 这个伟大的实验 Much more likely is that his most significant experiment
是富兰克林诸多设计了却并未实施的实验之一 was another one which he proposed but didn't even conduct.
事实上 这个实验甚至不是在美国进行的 In fact, it didn't even happen in America.
而是在这儿 巴黎北部的一个小镇 It took place here in a small village north of Paris
马利镇 called Marly La Ville.
法国人崇拜富兰克林 尤其是他反英的政治倾向 The French adored Franklin, especially his anti-British politics,
他们决定自己完成这个 and they took it upon themselves to perform
富兰克林没有亲手做过的闪电实验 his other lightning experiments without him.
这就是当时进行实验的地方 I've come to the very spot where that experiment took place.
1753年5月 乔治-路易·勒克莱尔 In May 1752, George Louis Leclerc,
也就是法国人熟悉的布丰伯爵 known across France as the Compte de Buffon,
和他的朋友Thomas Francois Dalibard一起 and his friend Thomas Francois Dalibard,
竖起了一根40英尺高的金属杆 是这根的两倍长 erected a 40-ft metal pole, more than twice as high as this one,
将它固定在三个木支架中间 held in place by three wooden staves,
放在Dalibard在马利镇的房子旁边 just outside Dalibard's house here in the Marly La Ville.
金属杆底部安插在一个空酒瓶里 The metal pole rested at the bottom inside an empty wine bottle.
富兰克林的实验原理 是用长杆捕获闪电 Franklin's big idea had been that the long pole
然后把它输送到下面 would capture the lightning, pass it down the metal rod
储存在酒瓶里 and store it in the wine bottle at the base
就像莱顿瓶一样 which worked as a Leiden jar.
这样便能够证实 闪电也是电的一种 Then, he could confirm what lightning actually was.
万事俱备 只欠雷雨... All his French followers had to do was wait for a storm.
而在5月23日 苍穹骤开 And then on May 23rd, the heavens opened.
12点20分 他们听到一声惊雷 At 12.20, a loud thunderclap was heard
闪电击中了金属杆顶部 as lightning hit the top of the pole.
一个助手跑到瓶子前 An assistant ran to the bottle,
伴随一声巨响 a spark leapt across
火花在金属杆和他手指间一闪 between the metal and his finger with a loud crack
散发出一股硫磺味 灼烧着他的手 and a sulphurous smell, burning his hand.
火花揭示了闪电的真面目 The spark revealed lightning for what it really was.
它和人为制造出的电并无二致 It was the same as the electricity made by man.
这是里程碑式的一刻 It is hard to overestimate the significance of this moment.
人类掀开了大自然神秘的面纱 Nature had been mastered, not only that but the wrath of God itself
而上帝亲创的自然现象 也已被人类掌握 had been brought under the control of mankind.
这可能跟教义有点儿冲突 It was a kind of heresy.
富兰克林的实验非常重要 因为它说明了 Franklin's experiment was very important because it showed that
雷暴和电之间具有直接的因果关系 lightning storms produce or are produced by electricity
而这种电 是可以人力捕获的 and that you can bring this electricity down,
电 这种大自然的力量 that electricity is a force of nature
正等着被开发利用 that's waiting out there to be tapped.
接下来 富兰克林将其理性的头脑转向另一个问题 Next, Franklin turned his rational mind to another question.
为什么将莱顿瓶拿在手中时 Why the Leiden jar made the biggest sparks
它会产生最激烈的电火花？ when it was held in the hand?
为什么电能没有流走？ Why didn't all the electricity just drain away?
凭借着他在从商时积累的经验 In drawing on his experience as a successful businessman,
他悟出了这个其他人从未想到的答案 he saw something no-one else had.
那就是 电就像银行里的钱一样 That like money in a bank,
当它被借入时 电量是正的 叫做正电 electricity can be in credit, what he called positive,
被贷出时 电量为负 也就是负电 or debit, negative.
在他看来 莱顿瓶的问题就像账户管理 For him, the problem of the Leiden jar is one of accountancy.
富兰克林的想法是 Franklin's idea was
每个物体周围环绕着一个带电的环境 every body has around an electrical atmosphere.
所以 它们都有一定量的带电流体环伺 And there is a natural amount of electric fluid around each body.
如果量太多 我们可以称其为显正电 If there is too much, we will call it positive.
量太少 则可以称作其为显负电 If there is too little, we will call it negative.
大自然总是有秩序的 因此正电和负电 And nature is organised so the positives and negatives
总会试图相互中和 达到平衡 always want to balance out,
就像理想状态下的美国经济 like an ideal American economy.
富兰克林认为 电的本质就是正电荷流动 Franklin's insight was that electricity was actually just positive charge
试图中和负电荷的过程 flowing to cancel out negative charge.
他相信这个简单的道理 And he believed this simple idea
可以解开莱顿瓶之谜 could solve the mystery of the Leiden jar.
当莱顿瓶充电时 As the jar is charged up,
负电荷顺导线流入水中 negative electrical charge is poured down the wire and into the water.
如果瓶子放在绝缘体上 只会有少量电荷存在于水中 If the jar rests on an insulator, a small amount builds up in the water.
可如果充电的瓶子被人拿在手上 But, if instead the jar is held by someone as it is being charged,
大地的正电荷 positive electric charge
通过身体被吸引到 is sucked up through their body from the ground
瓶子外边 to the outside of the jar,
试图抵消瓶内的负电荷 trying to cancel out the negative charge inside.
但是正电荷与负电荷 But the positive and negative charges
无法彼此抵消 are stopped from cancelling out
因为玻璃瓶身是绝缘的 by the glass which acts as an insulator.
电荷只会在两边不断聚集 Instead, the charge just grows and grows on both sides of the glass.
此时 用另一只手去碰瓶盖 Then, touching the top of the jar with it the other hand,
就会形成回路 使瓶内的负电荷 completes a circuit allowing the negative charge on the inside
通过手臂传送到瓶外的正电荷处 to pass through the hand to the positive on the outside,
最终彼此抵消 finally cancelling it out.
这种电荷的移动 会导致猛烈放电 而且会产生火花 The movement of this charge causes a massive shock and often a spark.
现代的电容器 就类似于当时的莱顿瓶 The modern equivalent of the Leiden jar is this - the capacitor.
这是最常见的电子组件之一 It is one of the most ubiquitous of electronic components.
它几乎无处不在 It is found everywhere.
在这块电脑板卡上 分布着许多小的电容器 There are a number of smaller ones scattered around on this circuit board from a computer.
它们可以起到稳压的作用 They help smooth out electrical surges,
保护敏感的组件 protecting sensitive components,
哪怕在现在 它们都依然是电路中的重要元件 even in the most modern electric circuit.
解开莱顿瓶之谜 Solving the mystery of the Leiden jar
和确认闪电的本质 and recognising lightning as merely a kind of electricity
是富兰克林和新启蒙运动 were two great successes for Franklin
取得的两项巨大突破 and the new Enlightenment movement.
然而商业贸易的力量 But the forces of trade and commerce,
既推动了启蒙运动 which helped fuel the Enlightenment,
也带来了一个新的 were about to throw up a new
同时也更令人费解的电学谜题 and even more perplexing electrical mystery.
人们发现了“另一种电” A completely new kind of electricity.
这里是英吉利海峡 This is the English Channel.
在17至18世纪之间 By the 17th and 18th centuries,
大量物资从大英帝国的各殖民地 甚至更远的地方 a good fraction of the world's wealth flowed up this stretch of water
运到这片海域 from all corners of the British Empire
一路直达伦敦 and beyond, on its way to London.
其中有来自印度的香料 加勒比海的糖 Spices from India, sugar from the Caribbean,
美洲的小麦以及中国的茶叶 wheat from America, tea from China.
当然 运来的不止商业货物 But, of course, it wasn't just commerce.
新的动植物样本 New plants and animal specimens
也从世界各地涌入伦敦 from all over the world came flooding into London,
其中就包括一种生物 它尤其使电学家着迷 including one that particularly fascinated the electricians.
它叫做电鳐 曾一度是渔民传说中的生物 Called the torpedo fish, it had been the stuff of fishermen's tales.
据说 它一口便能放倒一个成年人 Its sting, it was said, was capable of knocking a grown man down.
然而 随着电学家着手研究这种现象 But as the electricians started to investigate the sting,
他们发现 它与莱顿瓶所导致的触电感 they realised it felt strangely similar to a shock
有着奇妙的相似 from a Leiden jar.
它的叮咬可不可能就是电击呢？ Could its sting actually be an electric shock?
起初 许多人认为电鳐放电是一种神秘的现象 At first, many people dismissed the torpedo fish's shock as occult.
有些人说那可能只是单纯的鱼咬人 Some said it was probably just the fish biting.
其他人则认为那不可能是放电 因为没有电火花 Others that it could not be a shock because, without a spark,
它根本就与电无关 it just wasn't electricity.
然而 对绝大多数人来说 这的确是一个极其奇特 But, for most, it was a very strange
又令人费解的新谜题 and inexplicable new mystery.
英国科学史上一位最古怪 It would take one of the oddest
同时也是最聪明的角色 yet most brilliant characters in British science
即将着手揭开电鳐的秘密 to begin to unlock the secrets of the torpedo fish.
这是仅有的一张亨利·卡文迪许的画像 This is the only picture in existence
他极度腼腆而才华横溢 of the pathologically shy but exceptional Henry Cavendish.
一名画家在给他的大衣画速写之后 This one only exists because an artist sketched his coat
凭记忆补全了他的脸 as it hung on a peg,
否则估计连这一张画像都不会有 then filled in the face from memory.
他家境殷实 His family were fantastically rich.
家族是德文郡人 They were the Devonshires
德比郡的查茨沃斯庄园现仍在他家名下 who still own Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.
而亨利·卡文迪许决定背弃 Henry Cavendish decided to turn his back
他家族的财产和地位 on his family's wealth and status
定居伦敦 比邻他所挚爱的皇家学会 to live in London near his beloved Royal Society
在那里 他可以一心一意地从事他热爱的实验科学 where he could quietly pursue his passion for experimental science.
他听说了电鳐的故事后便沉迷其中 When he heard about the electric torpedo fish, he was intrigued.
一位朋友写给他说 A friend wrote to him...
“通过我第一次对电鳐效果的体验 "On this, my first experience of the effect of the torpedo,
“我断定这绝对是电流 "I exclaimed that this is certainly electricity.
“但它是怎么产生的呢？” "But how?"
为了弄懂一个生物是怎么可以产生电流的 And to work out how a living thing could produce electricity,
他决定自己做一条人工鱼 he decided to make his own artificial fish.
他的计划是这样的 These are his plans.
把两个鱼形的莱顿瓶埋在沙子里 Two Leiden jars shaped like the fish which were buried under sand.
当碰到沙子时 莱顿瓶会放电 产生剧烈的电击感 When the sand was touched, they discharged, giving a nasty shock.
他的模型使他相信 真正的电鳐能放电 His model helped convince him that the real torpedo fish was electric.
但还有一个令他困扰的难题 But it still left him with a nagging problem.
尽管电鳐和他自己的“人工鳐” Although both the real fish and Cavendish's artificial one
都能产生强大的电流 gave powerful electric shocks,
真正的电鳐却从不发出电火花 the real fish never sparked.
卡文迪许困惑了 Cavendish was perplexed.
如果它们不产生相同的现象 How could it be the same kind of electricity
那它们怎么可能是同一种电呢？ if they didn't both do the same kinds of things?
卡文迪许在实验室里度过了1773年的冬天 Cavendish spent the winter of 1773 in his laboratory
他潜心钻研 寻找答案 trying to come up with an answer.
来年春天 他终于有了灵感 In the spring, he had a brainwave.
卡文迪许独到的见解 Cavendish's ingenious answer was to point out a subtle distinction
解释了电量和电强度之间的微妙差异 between the amount of electricity and its intensity.
电鳐产生的 是同样的电 The real fish produced the same kind of electricity.
只是没那么强而已 It is just that it was less intense.
对于我们物理学家来说 这标明着一个重大的转折点 For a physicist like me, this marks a crucial turning point.
此时此刻 两个突破性的科学观点登场了 But it is the moment when two genuinely innovative scientific ideas first crop up.
卡文迪许提及的电量 What Cavendish refers to as the amount of electricity,
也就是我们现在所说的“电荷” we now call "electric charge".
他所提到的强度 His intensity is what we call
也就是电势差 或“电压” the potential difference or "voltage".
因此莱顿瓶放出的电 电压高 但电荷少 So the Leiden jar's shock was high-voltage but low charge
而电鳐放出的电 电压低 电荷多 whereas the fish was low voltage and high charge.
我们可以测量一下 It's possible to actually measure that.
躲藏着这个水缸底部沙层下面的 Hiding at the bottom of this tank under the sand
是石纹电鳐 属于电鳐科的一种 is the Torpedo marmorata and it's an electric ray.
你可以看到它的眼睛伸出了沙子 You can just see its eyes protruding from the sand.
这是一条完全成熟的雌鱼 This is a fully grown female
而我将要用这个饵去诱发并且测量 and I am going to try and measure
它放出的电流 the electricity it gives off with this bait.
我把一条鱼挂在金属棒上 I have a fish connected to a metal rod and hooked up
另一头连着示波器 to an oscilloscope
来看看我能否可以在它捕食猎物的时候测出电压 to see if I can measure the voltage as it catches its prey.
开始吧 Here goes!
有读数了！ Oh! There's one!
又来一次 There's another one.
这条鱼放的电大概有240伏特 The fish gave a shock of about 240 volts,
和家用电一样 但仍比莱顿瓶 the same as mains electricity, but still roughly 10 times less
低了大约十倍 than the Leiden jar.
但那也足够狠狠地电我一下了 That would have given me quite a nasty shock
我无法知道18世纪的科学家目睹了这个 and I can only try and imagine what it must have been like
到底有何想法 for scientists in the 18th century to witness this.
一只动物 一条鱼 自身产生电流 An animal, a fish, producing its own electricity.
卡文迪许已经展示了电鳐可以放电 Cavendish had shown that the torpedo fish made electricity
但他不知道这和起电器所发的电 but he didn't know if it was the same kind of electricity
是不是同一种电 as that made from an electrical machine.
电鳐所放出的电 Is the electrical shock that a torpedo produces
会和起电器发的电一样吗？ the same as produced by an electrical machine?
或者 它们是两种不同的类型？ Or are there two kinds?
或许 它们一种是人造的电 而另一种 A kind generated artificially or is there a kind of animal electricity
是只存在于生物体内的生物电呢？ that only exists in living bodies?
在这个问题上 人们争论不休 This was a huge debate
几十年来 这个分歧都无法化解 that divided opinion for several decades.
尖锐的争论引出了一个新的发现 Out of that bitter debate came a new discovery.
这个发现表明 电不一定要是闪一下 或是发出电火花 The discovery that electricity needn't be a brief shock or spark.
它也可以是持续的 It could actually be continuous.
可持续电的产生 And the generation of continuous electricity
最终推动了人们走向现代社会的脚步 would ultimately propel us into our modern age.
两位意大利学者 But the next step in the story of electricity would come about
在个人和学术上的激烈竞争 because of a fierce personal and professional rivalry
即将为电的故事写下新的篇章 between two Italian academics.
这是博洛尼亚大学 欧洲历史最悠久的大学之一 This is Bologna University, one of the oldest in Europe.
在18世纪末期 In the late 18th century,
博洛尼亚城被罗马教皇统治 the city of Bologna was ruled from papal Rome
因此 这所大学虽实力强大 which meant that the university was powerful
思想却比较保守 but conservative in its thinking.
传统基督教的思想深浸其中 It was steeped in traditional Christianity,
神的子嗣高坐于天堂统治人间 one where got ruled earth from heaven
但他的治世之道秘而不露 but that the way he ran the world
我等区区凡人 was hidden from us mere mortals
生来便不是为了去看透他 who were not meant to understand him,
而是去服从他的 only to serve him.
大学里最耀眼的明星之一 One of the university's brightest stars
便是解剖学家加尔瓦尼 was the anatomist Luigi Aloisio Galvani.
但是 在一座邻近的城市 But, in a neighbouring city,
他的学术对手向加尔瓦尼发出了挑战 a rival electrician was about to take Galvani to task.
这里是帕维亚 距博洛尼亚仅150英里 This is Pavia, only 150 miles from Bologna,
但到了18世纪末期 but by the end of the 18th century,
它们呈现出了不同的政治面貌 worlds apart politically.
帕维亚成为了奥地利帝国的一部分 It was part of the Austrian empire which put it
而且是欧洲启蒙运动的中心 at the very heart of the European Enlightenment.
这里的人们崇尚思想解放 推行激进的政治主张 Liberal in its thinking, politically radical
同时也被新兴的电学深深吸引 and obsessed with the new science of electricity.
这里也是 亚历山德鲁.伏特的家乡 It was also home to Alessandro Volta.
Volta与加尔瓦尼有着天壤之别 Alessandro Volta couldn't have been more unlike Galvani.
出生于古老的伦巴第家族 他年轻 傲慢 魅力四射 From an old Lombardi family, he was young, arrogant, charismatic,
是一位名副其实的白马王子 a real ladies' man,
并且他生性好辩 and he courted controversy.
不同于加尔瓦尼 他热衷于在国际舞台上 Unlike Galvani, he liked to show off his experiments
向观众夸耀他的实验 on an international stage to any audience.
伏特的想法才不像加尔瓦尼那样受宗教教义的约束 Volta's ideas were unfettered by Galvani's religious dogma.
犹如本杰明·富兰克林和欧洲启蒙运动 Like Benjamin Franklin and the European Enlightenment,
他崇尚理性 he believed in rationality -
相信科学事实 that scientific truth,
就如希腊神灵 会弃愚昧无知于地 like a Greek god, would cast ignorance to the floor.
与迷信为敌 他相信 未来是属于理性的 Superstition was the enemy. Reason was the future.
两人都被电学所吸引 Both men were fascinated by electricity.
也都提出了自己的见解 Both brought their different ways of seeing the world to bear on it.
加尔瓦尼被电在医学治疗中的 Galvani had been attracted to the use of electricity
运用前景所吸引 in medical treatments.
比方说 1759年 在博洛尼亚 For instance, in 1759, here in Bologna,
电流就被作用于一位瘫痪患者的肌肉上 electricity was used on the muscles of a paralysed man.
一份报告记载 One report said,
“看能到乳突骨带动头部转动真是太好了 "It was a fine sight to see the mastoid rotate the head,
“肱二头肌带动肘部的弯曲 "the biceps bend the elbow.
“总而言之 见证了每块受刺激的瘫痪肌肉 "In short, to see the force and vitality of all the motions
“表现出一切运动所拥有的活力和力量” "occurring in every paralysed muscle subjected to the stimulus."
加尔瓦尼坚信这类实例 Galvani believed these kinds of examples
揭示了身体的运动要依靠生物电流 revealed that the body worked using animal electricity,
一种从大脑流出 a fluid that flows from the brain,
经过神经 through the nerves, into the muscles,
最后流入肌肉转变成运动的流体 where it's turned into motion.
他设计出了一系列骇人的实验来证明这个理论 He devised a series of grisly experiments to prove it.
首先 他先准备了一只青蛙 Now, he first prepared a frog.
他写道 青蛙是剥了皮 取出了内脏的 He writes, "The frog is skinned and disembowelled.
只有它们的下肢 包括腿部神经 "Only their lower limbs are left joined together,
是留下来连在一起的 "containing just the crural nerves."
我留下的青蛙几乎是完整无缺的 I've left my frog mostly intact,
但我让它们连接腿部的神经裸露在外 but I've exposed the nerves that connect to the frog's legs.
之后他用霍克斯比起电器 Then he used Hauksbee's electrical machine
产生静电电荷 to generate electrostatic charge,
电荷在此聚集并穿过这根支管 that would accumulate and travel along this arm
然后从这根铜丝出来 and out through this copper wire.
接着 他把这根载有电荷的铜丝连接到青蛙上 Then he connected the charge-carrying wire to the frog
另一根接到恰好位于腿上的神经上 and another to the nerve just above the leg.
让我们看看有什么现象发生 Let's see what happens.
噢！蛙腿抽搐了 就在碰到的那一下 Ooh! And the frogs leg twitches, just as it makes contact.
就是这样 There we go!
对于加尔瓦尼来说 这种现象表明在动物肌肉中 For Galvani, what was going on there was that there's a strange,
有某种奇特物质的存在 special kind of entity in the animal muscle,
他把它称为生物电流 which he calls animal electricity.
它不像其他任何一种电流 它是生物所固有的 It's not like any other electricity. It's intrinsic to living beings.
但对伏特而言 生物电流的说法纯属无稽之谈 But for Volta, animal electricity smacked of superstition and magic.
在倡导理性和进步的科学中没有立足之地 It had no place in rational and enlightened science.
伏特对这个实验的看法与加尔瓦尼大相径庭 Volta saw the experiment completely differently to Galvani.
他确信这个实验揭示了截然不同的事实 He believed it revealed something totally new.
对他而言 腿的抽搐不是作为生物电流 For him, the legs weren't jumping as a result
从体内释放的结果 of the release of animal electricity from within them,
而是源自于外界电流的流入 but because of the artificial electricity from outside.
蛙腿只是起指示作用 The legs were merely the indicator.
它们会抽搐 纯粹是因为起电器产生的电流 They were only twitching because of the electricity from the Hauksbee machine.
而在博洛尼亚 加尔瓦尼对伏特的说法恼羞成怒 Back in Bologna, Galvani reacted furiously to Volta's ideas.
他认定伏特已经超出了根本的底线 He believed Volta had crossed a fundamental line -
从电学实验逾越到了神界 from electrical experiments into God's realm,
在他看来 这无异于异端邪说 and that was tantamount to heresy.
电 这种奇妙的力量 To have a kind of spirit like electricity,
竟然可以由人类创造出来 to have that produced artificially
而伏特把这种鲜活而神奇的力量 and to say that spirit, that living force,
与上帝亲创 并赋予人类和青蛙的 that agency was the same as something produced by God,
生命之力相提并论 that God had put into a living human body or a frog's body,
这无疑是在亵渎神明 that seemed sacrilegious to them,
因为这等于是将上帝的无上神圣 because it was eliminating this boundary between God's realm of the divine
与低微的物质世界混为一谈了 and the mundane realm of the material.
为了捍卫自己的宗教信仰 Spurred on by his religious indignation,
加尔瓦尼公布了一组新的实验数据 Galvani announced a new series of experimental results,
试图推翻伏特的理论 which would prove Volta was wrong.
在一次实验中 他把青蛙吊在一根铁丝上 During one of his experiments, he hung his frogs on an iron wire
得到了一个意料之外的发现 and saw something totally unexpected.
当他把一根铜丝和悬挂青蛙的铁丝连接在一起 If he connected copper wire to the wire the frog was hanging from,
并用铜丝的另一头去触碰青蛙神经的时候 and then touched the other end of the copper to the nerve...
似乎青蛙的腿会随之抽搐 ..it seemed to him he could make the frog's legs twitch
而整个过程中并无外加电流 without any electricity at all.
因此 加尔瓦尼得出结论 Galvani came to the conclusion that it must have been
哪怕是在死去的青蛙体内 something inside the frogs, even if dead,
都依然残留着一些能发电的东西 that continued for a while after death to produce some kind of electricity.
而这些电则会通过铁丝流出 And the metal wires were somehow releasing that electricity.
随后的几个月 Over the next months,
加尔瓦尼的实验重点便变成了提取这种“动物电” Galvani's experiments focused on isolating this animal electricity
而实验器具包括青蛙 金属 using combinations of frog and metal,
莱顿瓶 以及一些电学仪器 Leiden jars and electrical machines.
对于加尔瓦尼来说 这些实验是为了证明 For Galvani, these experiments were proof the electricity
电是由青蛙自身发出的 was originating within the frog itself.
青蛙的肌肉就像莱顿瓶 它们存储电流 The frog's muscles were Leiden jars, storing up the electrical fluid
然后将它们迅速释放出来 and then releasing it in a burst.
1786年10月30日 他将他的发现著书发表 On 30th October, 1786, he published his findings in a book,
书名为Animali Electricitate Animali Electricitate -
即《论动物电》 Of Animal Electricity.
加尔瓦尼对自己的著作信心十足 Galvani was so confident of his ideas,
还得意地寄了一本给伏特 he even sent a copy of his book to Volta.
然而 伏特却无论如何 But Volta just couldn't stomach
也不能接受“动物电”的概念 Galvani's idea of animal electricity.
他相信 这些电一定是从别的地方来的 He thought the electricity just had to come from somewhere else.
但是它从哪里来呢？ But where?
18世纪90年代 在帕维亚大学 In the 1790s, here at the University of Pavia,
就在这间现在以他的名字命名的教室里 almost certainly in this lecture theatre, which still bears his name,
伏特开始了对这种新型电流的寻找之旅 Volta began his search for the new source of electricity.
他着重研究的 His suspicions focused on the metals
是那些加尔瓦尼用来让青蛙腿抽搐的金属 that Galvani had used to make his frog's legs twitch.
他觉得这其中定有蹊跷 His curiosity had been piqued
而他的灵感 则来自于一个奇特的发现 by an odd phenomenon he come across -
那就是 混合金属尝起来是有味道的 how combinations of metals tasted.
当他把两枚用不同金属所制的硬币 He found that if he took two different metal coins
重叠放在自己的舌尖上 and placed them on the tip of his tongue,
并在顶部放上一把银匙时 and then placed a silver spoon on top of both...
他觉得舌尖发麻 ..he got a kind of tingling sensation,
这种感觉跟被莱顿瓶电到是一样的 rather like the tingling you'd get from the discharge of a Leiden jar.
伏特随之得出结论 电是有“味道”的 Volta concluded he could taste the electricity
而这种感觉 肯定来自于 and it must be coming from
勺子和银币中不同金属的接触 the contact between the different metals in the coins and spoon.
他的理论 与加尔瓦尼的背道而驰 His theory flew in the face of Galvani's.
青蛙腿的抽搐 并不是由于自身带电 The frog's leg twitched, not because of its own animal electricity,
而是因为它被金属所电 but because it was reacting to the electricity from the metals.
然而 硬币生成的电非常微弱 But the electricity his coins generated was incredibly weak.
怎样才能把它变强呢？ How could he make it stronger?
在重新翻阅文献时 Then an idea came to him as he revisited the scientific papers
他从伟大的英国科学家亨利·卡文迪许 from the great British scientist, Henry Cavendish,
著名的电鳐研究中 得到了灵感 and in particular, his famous work on the electric torpedo fish.
他仔细地再次观察了电鳐 He went back and took a closer look at the torpedo fish
尤其是它们背脊板上的花纹 and in particular, the repeating pattern of chambers in its back.
他猜想 可能正是这些重复的花纹 He wondered whether it was this repeating pattern
使电鳐拥有了发电的能力 that held the key to its powerful electric shock.
也许 每一块板就像硬币和勺子一样 Perhaps each chamber was like his coins and spoon,
能产生微弱的电 each generating a tiny amount of electricity.
也许 电鳐所能发出的强烈电击 And, perhaps, the fish's powerful shock
是来自于这些重复的背脊板 results from the pattern of chambers repeating over and over again.
胸有成竹的伏特决定做出反击 With growing confidence in his new ideas, Volta decided to fight back
他要制作出人工电鳐 by building his own artificial version of the torpedo fish.
于是 他根据电鳐背脊板的原理 So, he copied the torpedo fish
做出了一条“仿真版” by repeating its pattern,
所用的材料 却是金属 but using metal.
他将一块铜板 Here's what he did - he took a copper metal plate
放到一张浸过稀酸的纸板下面 and then placed above it a piece of card soaked in dilute acid.
然后再叠上另一块金属板 Then above that, he took another metal and placed it on top.
这个系统与加尔瓦尼的铁丝和铜丝其实是一样的 What he had here was exactly the same thing as Galvani's two wires.
不过现在 伏特将这个过程重复多次 But now Volta repeated the process.
做成了一叠金属堆 What he was doing here was building a pile of metal.
之后 这个组合被称作“伏特电堆” In fact, his invention became known as the pile.
这机器本身并不足为奇 可它却有着承前启后的意义 But it's what it could do that was the really incredible revelation.
伏特亲身测试了电堆的威力 Volta tried his pile out on himself by getting two wires
他将两根电线接在了电堆的两端 and attaching them to each end of the pile
并用舌头去触碰电线的另一端 and bringing the other ends to touch his tongue.
直观地“尝到”了电的味道 He could actually taste the electricity.
这次的触感比以前更强烈 也更持久 This time, it was more powerful than normal and it was constant.
就这样 他创造出了史上第一块电池 He'd created the first battery.
和以前不同 它可以不借助机械力量产生电流 The machine was no longer an electrical and mechanical machine,
而是作为一个纯粹的电子设备独立存在 it was just purely an electrical machine.
他证明了我们可以做出仿真电鳐的机器 So he proved that a machine imitating the fish could work,
并且可以利用不同的金属组合来发电 that what he called the metal or contact electricity of different metals could work,
他认为 这让他在与加尔瓦尼的争执中 and that he regarded as his final,
有力地画上了完美的句号 winning move in the controversy with Galvani.
伏特电堆的发明 What Volta's pile showed was that
让我们知道我们可以人工地造出“动物电” you could develop all the phenomena
并且 其过程根本不需要动物 of animal electricity without any animals being present.
所以 在伏特看来 So, from the Voltaic point of view,
加尔瓦尼的观点是错误的 it seemed as if Galvani was wrong,
动物身上的电并无特别之处 there's nothing special about the electricity in animals.
“动物电”就是电 It's electricity
它完全可以被这台人工设备制造出来 and it can be completely mimicked by this artificial pile.
然而 出乎伏特的意料 But the biggest surprise for Volta was that
电堆所发的电是持续的 the electricity it generated was continuous.
它像河流里的水一样源源不断地流淌着 In fact, it poured out like water in a stream.
河里流的水是水流 And just as in a stream, where the measure of the amount of water
同样 从电堆里流出的电就被称为“电流” flowing is called a current, so the electricity flowing out of the pile became known as an electrical current.
200年之后的今天 200 years after Volta,
我们终于彻底理解了电是什么 we finally understand what electricity actually is.
金属原子与其他原子一样 The atoms in metals, like all atoms,
都有一个由电子环绕的原子核 have electrically charged electrons surrounding a nucleus.
然而 金属中的原子以一种特别的方式 But in metals, the atoms share their outer electrons
与近邻原子分享自身的电子 with each other in a unique way,
这些电子可以自由地从一个原子移向旁边的原子 which means they can move from one atom to the next.
如果这些电子同时向同一个方向流动 If those electrons move in the same direction at the same time,
就会最终导致电荷的流动 the cumulative effect is a movement of electric charge.
这种电子运动就是我们所说的“电流” This flow of electrons is what we call an electric current.
仅在伏特发表电堆实验细节的数周内 Within weeks of Volta publishing details of his pile,
科学家们发现 电堆的用处不可思议 scientists were discovering something incredible about what it could do.
它对水的影响让所有人出乎意料 Its effect on ordinary water was completely unexpected.
持续流进水里的电荷 The constant stream of electric charge into the water
将水分子分解开来 was ripping it up into its constituent parts -
变成了氧气和氢气 the gases, oxygen and hydrogen.
电为一个新的时代拉开了序幕 Electricity was heralding the dawn of a new age.
它的作用 已经不限于满足科学家的好奇心 A new age where electricity ceased being a mere curiosity
而是一种有力的工具 and started being genuinely useful.
有了持续的电流 With constant flowing current electricity,
人们可以轻松地提炼出新的化学元素 new chemical elements could be isolated with ease.
这奠定了化学 物理 以及现代工业的基础 And this laid the foundations for chemistry, physics and modern industry.
伏特的电堆改变了一切 Volta's pile changed everything.
它让伏特成为了举世闻名的明星科学家 The pile made Volta an international celebrity,
风光无限 feted by the powerful and the rich.
为了纪念他的贡献 In recognition,
电学的一个重要参数单位 电压 以他的名字命名 a fundamental measure of electricity was named in his honour.
伏特 The volt.
他的对手并没有这么幸运 But his scientific adversary didn't fare quite so well.
路易吉.阿洛伊西奥.加尔瓦尼 在1798年12月4日 Luigi Aloisio Galvani died on 4th December 1798,
在抑郁与潦倒中去世 depressed and in poverty.
在我看来 电学史上最重要的转折点 For me, it's not the invention of the battery
并不是电池的发明 that marked the crucial turning point in the story of electricity,
而是接下来发生的这件事 it's what happened next.
它发生在伦敦的英国皇家研究所里 It took place in London's Royal Institution.
这一刻 代表了一个时代的过去 It was the moment that marked the end of one era
也标志着新时代的到来 and the beginning of another.
汉弗莱戴维见证了这一刻 It was overseen by Humphry Davy,
他是新一代电学家中的鼻祖 the first of a new generation of electricians.
他初出茅庐 意气风发 Young, confident and fascinated
为持续电流可能带来的一切所着迷 by the possibilities of continuous electrical current.
1808年 他造出了史上最大的电池 So, in 1808, he built the world's largest battery.
它占据了研究所地下室的一整个房间 It filled an entire room underneath the Royal Institution.
这枚电池由800个独立的伏特电堆组成 It had over 800 individual voltaic piles attached together.
当时空气中一定都充斥着硫磺的味道吧 It must have hissed and breathed sulphurous fumes.
黑暗的房间中 古老的烛光与油灯下 In a darkened room, lit by centuries-old technology, candles and oil lamps,
Davy将碳棒连接在电池两端 Davy connected his battery to two carbon filaments
然后让碳棒相互靠近 and brought the tips together.
电池中持续流出的电流 The continuous flow of electricity from the battery
通过碳棒 穿过中间的空隙 through the filaments leapt across the gap,
产生了一道持久 耀眼的火花 giving rise to a constant and blindingly bright spark.
黑暗不再 曙光破晓！ Out of the darkness came the light.
Davy的弧光灯带来了光明 Davy's arc light truly symbolises the end of one era
照亮了新时代的开端 and the beginning of our era.
电子时代 The era of electricity.
不过 在这个故事的结尾 还有个阴沉恐怖的花絮 But there's a truly grisly coda to this story.
1803年 加尔瓦尼的侄子 Giovanni Aldini In 1803, Galvani's nephew, one Giovanni Aldini,
来到伦敦 做了一个可怕的新型实验 came to London with a terrifying new experiment.
一名叫George Forster的谋杀犯 A convicted murderer called George Forster
刚在Newgate被处以绞刑 had just been hanged in Newgate.
尸体从行刑架上搬下来之后 When the body was cut down from the gallows,
被直接送至一间演讲厅 it was brought directly to the lecture theatre,
在这里 Aldini开始了他令人毛骨悚然的实验 where Aldini started his macabre work.
他用一个伏特电堆 Using a voltaic pile,
让一股电流通过尸体 he began to apply an electric current to the dead man's body.
随后 Aldini将一块导体放在死尸的肛门 Then Aldini put one electrical conductor in the dead man's anus
另一块放在脊椎顶部 and the other at the top of his spine.
Forster僵硬的尸体突然一下坐了起来 Forster's limp, dead body sat bolt upright
他的脊梁骨也弓了起来 and his spine arched and twisted.
乍一看 这具尸体 For a moment, it seemed as though the dead body
仿佛又活过来了 had been brought back to life.
电似乎有着死而复生的力量 It appeared as though electricity might have the power of resurrection.
此事让一位青年作家 Mary Shelley深有感触 And this made a profound impact on a young writer called Mary Shelley.
她根据这个故事 Mary Shelley wrote
创作出了史上最震撼人心的经典作品之一 one of the most powerful and enduring stories ever.
它的背景就在Como湖 Based partly here on Lake Como,
《弗兰克斯坦》讲述了一个科学家的故事 Frankenstein tells the story of a scientist,
这位科学家很可能是以Aldini作为原型的 a Galvanist probably based on Aldini,
他通过电 赋予了一个怪物生命 who brings a monster to life using electricity.
当他意识到自己的所作所为是多么狂妄后 And then, disgusted by his own arrogance,
便将这怪物丢弃了 he abandons his creation.
正如Davy的弧光灯一样 这本书代表了时代的变更 Just like Davy's arc lamp, this book symbolises changing times.
梦想和浪漫的时代已经死去 The end of the era of miracles and romance
理智与科技的时代来临了 and the beginning of the era of rationality, industry and science.
在下一集 我们讲述这个新的时代 And it's that new age we explore in the next programme,
十八世纪初叶 because at the start of the 19th century,
科学家们发现 电与大自然中 scientists realised electricity was intimately connected
另一种神秘的力量密不可分 with another of nature's mysterious forces...
那就是磁 magnetism.
这个发现彻底改变了世界... And that realisation would completely transform our world.
想要更深入了解电学的故事 To find out more about the story of electricity
或者测试自己的能量学知识 and to put your power knowledge to the test,
欢迎参与公开大学的互动能量学小游戏 try the Open University's interactive energy game.
请访问bbc.co.uk/electricity Go to bbc.co.uk/electricity
然后根据网页指示 去公开大学的主页 ..and follow links to the Open University.