故事發生在19世紀初 At the dawn of the 19th century,
在Mayfair的一間地下室裏 in a cellar in Mayfair,
當時最富盛名的科學家 Humphry Davy the most famous scientist of the time, Humphry Davy,
建造了一台意義非凡的電子設備 built an extraordinary piece of electrical equipment.
它有4米寬 8米長 Four metres wide, twice as long
堆滿了酸液與金屬片 and containing stinking stacks of acid and metal,
它的發電規模之大 it had been created to pump out more electricity
史無前例 than had ever been possible before.
事實上 這是當時 It was in fact the biggest battery
世界上最大的電池 the world had ever seen.
憑借這枚電池 Davy即將開啟 With it, Davy was about to propel us
一個新的紀元 into a new age.
實驗將在皇家學院裏進行 That moment would take place at a lecture at the Royal Institution,
倫敦的數百位科學家和名人都將到場觀看 in front of hundreds of London's great and good.
學院裏座無虛席 滿懷期待的人們 Filled with anticipation, they packed the seats,
希望能見證一種新的電學現象 hoping to witness a new and exciting electrical wonder.
然而 不尋常的一幕發生了 But what they would see that night would be something truly unique.
這一幕 令他們終生難忘 Something they would remember for the rest of their lives.
使用兩根普通的碳棒 Using just two simple carbon rods,
Humphry Davy向人們展示了電的潛能 Humphry Davy was about to unleash the true potential of electricity.
電 是自然界最攝人心魄的力量之一 Electricity is one of nature's most awesome phenomena,
我們所能見到的電學現象中 and the most powerful manifestation of it we ever see
最壯觀的莫過於閃電 is lightning.
在本片中 我們將講述人類曾如何夢想著 This is the story of how we first dreamed of controlling
控制這種自然之力 this primal force of nature,
以及我們最終征服它的曲折歷程 and how we would ultimately become its master.
這個歷時300年的故事裏 It's a 300-year tale
處處閃現著人類的想像與創造之光 of dazzling leaps of imagination and extraordinary experiments.
數萬伏的高壓電穿過他的身體 Tens of thousands of volts passed across his body
流向了他手持的燈 and through the end of a lamp that he was holding.
才華橫溢的科學家們 It's a story of a maverick geniuses
利用電能 點亮城市 who used electricity to light our cities,
跨越天空和海洋 傳遞信息 to communicate across the seas and through the air,
創造現代工業 為我們帶來了數碼新時代 to create modern industry and to give us the digital revolution.
在這一集中 我們將講述電學家先驅們 But in this film, we'll tell the story of the very first scientists
是如何開始探索電的秘密的 who started to unlock the mysteries of electricity.
這裏面彷彿有生命一樣 It's as though there's something alive in there.
他們研究電和生命的關係 They studied its curious link to life,
他們製造出新奇的儀器 製造電能 built strange and powerful instruments to create it
甚至試圖控制閃電 and even tamed lightning itself.
他們的研究 構成了現代世界的基礎 It was these men who truly laid the foundations of the modern world.
而一切的開始 只源於一個火花 And it all started with a spark.
翻譯：statm 鳴鏑 胡大田 女俠阿呆 校對：女俠阿呆
第一集 靈光乍現
如果這世界沒有了電能 Imagine our world without electricity.
我們就會陷入黑暗 It would be dark,
寒冷和寂靜 cold and quiet.
就像回到了18世紀早期 In many ways, it would be like the beginning of the 18th century,
而故事 就從那個時候開始 where our story begins.
這裏是倫敦的皇家學會 This is the Royal Society in London.
18世紀初 在懷才不遇多年後 In the early 1700s, after years in the wilderness,
艾薩克·牛頓終於掌握了大權 Isaac Newton finally took control of it
他的對手Robert Hooke去世了 after the death of his arch-enemy, Robert Hooke.
牛頓把關鍵職位安排給他的手下 Newton brought in his own people to the key jobs,
以便穩固他的領導地位 to help shore up his new position.
35歲的Francis Hauksbee被任命為首席實驗師 The new head of demonstrations there was 35-year-old Francis Hauksbee.
1705年皇家學院的記錄裏顯示 Notes from the Royal Society in 1705
Hauksbee使盡渾身解數 reveal how hard Hauksbee tried
想要凸顯出自己的能力 to stamp his personality on its weekly meetings,
他做了許多標新立異的實驗 試圖博取上司的賞識 producing ever more spectacular experiments to impress his masters.
11月時 他製造了這個 In November, he came up with this -
能旋轉的空心玻璃球 a rotating glass sphere.
他通過一台新式的空氣泵 He was able to remove the air from inside it using a new machine -
抽去玻璃球裏的空氣 the air pump.
這台儀器上有一個手柄 用來旋轉玻璃球 On his machine, a handle allowed him to spin the sphere.
當禮堂裏的蠟燭一一熄滅後 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.
奇妙的一幕呈現在了觀眾眼前 The audience were about to see something amazing.
「在玻璃球裏 'Inside the glass sphere,
「出現了一道朦朧的光 'a strange ethereal light began to form,
「這束光芒圍著他的手婆娑流動 'dancing around his hand.
「從沒有人見過這種光」 'A light no-one had ever seen before.'
這太神奇了 That's fantastic.
你看 這一道藍色的光暈 You see a beautiful blue glow, it's just marking out
勾勒出我手的輪廓 在玻璃球裏面流動 the shape of my hands, but then going right round the ball.
這裏面彷彿有生命一樣 It's as though there's something alive in there.
也許你很難理解 It's difficult to really understand
這束藍光有什麼特別的意義 why this dancing blue light meant so much,
但要知道 在當時 but we have to bear in mind that at the time,
人們將這種自然現象理解為上帝顯靈 natural phenomena like this were seen to be the work of the Almighty.
當時 甚至在牛頓的理論中 This was still a period when, even in Isaac Newton's theory,
也把不少東西歸因於上帝的作用 God was constantly intervening in the conduct of the world.
這樣一來 不少人 It made sense for a lot of people
都把自然現象看作是上帝的施為 to interpret natural phenomena as acts of God.
所以 當一個凡人模仿出上帝的傑作時 So when a mere mortal meddled with God's work,
這幾乎是不可理喻的 it was almost beyond rational comprehension.
然而 Hauksbee並未完全看出這次實驗的意義 Hauksbee never realised the full significance of his experiment.
他對玻璃球實驗失去了興趣 He lost interest in his glowing sphere
在餘下的幾年裏 and spent the last few years of his life
他設計製造了各種有趣的的實驗 building ever more spectacular experiments
幫助牛頓測試其他的理論 for Isaac Newton to test his other theories.
他並不知道 自己在無意間 He never realised that he had unwittingly started
已然推開了電學的大門 an electrical revolution.
在Hauksbee之前 電只不過是一種稀罕的玩物 Before Hauksbee, electricity had been merely a curiosity.
古希臘人通過摩擦琥珀（希臘語electron） The ancient Greeks rubbed amber, which they called electron,
來體驗電擊的觸感 to get small shocks.
連女王伊麗莎白一世 Even Queen Elizabeth I marvelled
也被靜電吸引羽毛的實驗所吸引 at static electricity's power to lift feathers.
但有了Hauksbee的裝置後 But now Hauksbee's machine
人們通過轉動手柄便能輕易地獲得靜電 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 他的發明 Perhaps even more importantly, his invention coincided
和當時橫掃歐洲大陸的啟蒙運動 with the birth of a new movement sweeping across Europe
恰好處在同一時期 called the Enlightenment.
在啟蒙運動中 人們用理性探索世界 Enlightened intellectuals used reason to question the world
這促使了批判性政治 and their legacy was radical politics,
反偶像崇拜性藝術 iconoclastic art
以及自然哲學 也就是科學的誕生 and natural philosophy, or science.
諷刺的是 Hauksbee的設備 But ironically, Hauksbee's new machine
並沒有立即被啟蒙運動的發起者所接受 wasn't immediately embraced by most of these intellectuals.
相反 它成為魔術師的玩物 But instead, by conjurers and street magicians.
這些對電感興趣的人 Those with an interest in electricity
自稱為「電學家」 called themselves electricians.
在奧地利皇宮的宴會上 發生過這樣一個故事 One story tells of a dinner party attended by an Austrian Count.
一位「電學家」把羽毛放在桌子上 The electrician had placed some feathers on the table
然後 用絲綢手帕摩擦玻璃棒 and then charged up a glass rod with a silk handkerchief.
接著 他用這根玻璃棒吸起了羽毛 He then astonished the guests by lifting up the feathers
客人們大感驚奇 with the rod.
接下來 他用Hauksbee的起電裝置 He then went on to charge himself up
讓自己帶上了靜電 using one of Hauksbee's electrical machines.
再通過觸摸讓觀眾感受到一陣陣微弱電擊 He gave the guests electric shocks,
場面沸騰 眾口稱奇 presumably to squeals of delight.
不過 他的壓軸好戲 But for his piece de resistance,
是把一杯白蘭地放在桌子上 he placed a glass of cognac in the centre of the table,
讓自己帶上靜電 charged himself up again
然後用指尖的火花點燃了白蘭地 and lit it with a spark from the tip of his finger.
還有一個戲法 叫做電學宣福 There was a trick called the electrical beatification,
「受福者」坐在絕緣的椅子上 in which the victim sits on an insulated chair
上方懸掛著一個金屬王冠 and above his head hangs a metal crown
而王冠並不接觸他的頭部 that doesn't quite touch his head.
當王冠帶電後 And then if the crown is electrified,
就會在周圍開始放電 then you get an electric discharge around the crown
產生一個光暈般的景象 that looks exactly like a halo,
所以這個實驗被稱作「電學宣福」 which is why it's called the electric beatification.
英國和歐洲的人們對電學戲法愈發癡迷 As England and the rest of Europe went electricity crazy,
電學表演也變得越來越壯觀 the spectacles grew bigger.
好奇心更重的電學家們 The more curious electricians
開始提出更深刻的問題 started to ask more profound questions,
他們開始研究 除了讓表演規模更大 更吸引眼球外 not only how can we make our shows bigger and better,
我們要怎樣控制這種神奇的力量？ but how can we control this amazing power?
有的人更是在思考 這奇異的電火花 And for some, can this incredible electrical fire
除了觀賞 還有什麼別的用處嗎？ do more than just entertain?
對於這些問題 最早的突破 One of the first early breakthroughs would never have happened
來自一場可怕的事故 had it not been for a terrible accident.
這裏是倫敦中部的卡爾特修道院 This is Charterhouse in the centre of London.
在過去的400年裏 它作為一所慈善機構 Over the past 400 years, it's been a charitable home
接納孤兒和老年人到此居住 for young orphans and elderly gentleman.
18世紀20年代 Stephen Gray也住進了這裏 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
一位成功的絲綢印染商 silk dyer from Canterbury.
他經常看到絲綢上出現的電火花 He was used to seeing electric sparks leap from the silk
對此非常著迷 and they fascinated him.
不幸的是 一場巨大的災難葬送了他的事業 Unfortunately, a crippling accident ended his career
使他家徒四壁 and left him destitute.
後來 卡爾特修道院接納了他 But then he was offered a new life here at Charterhouse
於是 他便有時間從事自己的電學實驗 and with it the time to perform his own electrical experiments.
當年 或許正是在這間大廳裏 Here at Charterhouse, possibly in this very room, the Great Chamber,
Stephen Gray立起了一個木頭架 Stephen Gray built a wooden frame
上面用絲繩繫著兩個鞦韆 and from the top beam he suspended two swings using silk rope.
他也有一台類似Hauksbee起電器的裝置 He also had a device like this, a Hauksbee machine
可以產生靜電 for generating static electricity.
在許多觀眾面前 Now, with a large audience in attendance,
他讓卡爾特的一名孤兒 he got one of the orphan boys who lived here at Charterhouse
躺在兩個鞦韆上 to lie across the two swings.
Gray把幾片金葉子放在他面前 Gray placed some gold leaf in front of him.
然後 他開始發電 He then generated electricity
通過一根導線 把電流輸送到男孩身上 and charged the boy through a connecting rod.
金葉子 還有羽毛 紛紛飛向男孩的指尖 Gold leaf, even feathers, leapt to the boy's fingers.
一些觀眾說 他們甚至看到了 Some of the audience claimed they could even see sparks
男孩手指上發出的火花 景象十分引人入勝 flying out from his fingertips. Show business indeed.
但對於滿腹好奇的Stephen Gray來說 But to the curious and inquiring mind of Stephen Gray,
這一幕另有意義 this said something else as well -
這展示出 電是可以轉移的 electricity could move,
它從起電器轉移到男孩的身上 直到他的雙手 from the machine to the boy's body, through to his hands.
但絲繩卻讓它停了下來 But the silk rope stopped it dead.
也就是說 這神奇的電 It meant the mysterious electrical fluid
能穿過某些物體 could flow through some things...
而不能穿過另一些物體 ..but not through others.
於是 Gray將所有物質分為兩類 It led Gray to divide the world into two different kinds of substances.
絕緣體和導體 He called them insulators and conductors.
絕緣體將電能存留在其中 Insulators held electric charge within them
並阻止它自由移動 比如絲綢 頭髮 and wouldn't let it move, like the silk or hair,
玻璃 或是樹脂 glass and resin.
而導體 則允許電流經過 Whereas conductors allowed electricity to flow through them,
比如男孩 或各種金屬 like the boy or metals.
這種區分方式至今仍然十分重要 It's a distinction which is still crucial even today.
就拿電塔來說 Just think of these electric pylons.
它們的工作原理 和Gray在300年前的這個結論 They work on the same principle that Gray deduced
依然是完全一致的 nearly 300 years ago.
電線是導體 The wires are conductors.
玻璃和陶瓷是絕緣體 The glass and ceramic objects
把它們放置於電線與電塔的金屬主體之間 between the wire and the metal of the pylon are insulators
能阻止電流通過導線 that stop the electricity leaking from the wires
漏入塔身與地面 into the pylon and down to the earth.
它們起到的作用 跟Gray實驗中的絲線是一樣的 They're just like the silk ropes in Gray's experiment.
在1730年 Back in the 1730s,
Gray的實驗讓所有觀眾嘆為觀止 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嘗試了各種方法 Try as he might,
卻無法長時間儲存他製造的電能 Gray couldn't contain the electricity he was generating for long.
電從起電器流動到男孩身上 之後便很快消失了 It leapt from the machine to the boy and was quickly gone.
而接下來的故事 The next step in our story came
就是人們尋找儲存電能的經歷 when we learnt how to store electricity.
但這並非發生在英國 But that would take place not in Britain,
而是在海峽對岸的歐洲大陸 but across the Channel in mainland Europe.
和英國人一樣 彼岸的電學家們 Across the Channel, electricians were just as busy
也在積極地研究電現象 一座電學研究中心 as their British counterparts and one centre for electrical research
坐落在荷蘭萊頓 was here in Leiden, Holland.
就在這裏 一位教授完成了一項 And it was here that a professor came up with an invention
18世紀最重要的發明 that many still regard as the most significant of the 18th century,
時至今日 它的原理 one that in some form or another can still be found
仍然廣泛地被各種電子設備使用 in almost every electrical device today.
這位教授名叫Pieter van Musschenbroek That professor was Pieter van Musschenbroek.
和Hauksbee與Gray不同 Unlike Hauksbee and Gray,
Musschenbroek生於學術世家 Musschenbroek was born into academia.
有意思的是 他的重要發現 But ironically enough, his breakthrough
不是源於嚴謹的科研 came not because of his rigorous science,
而是因一個簡單的操作失誤 but because of a simple human mistake.
當時 他正在研究如何儲存電荷 He was trying to find a way to store electrical charge,
並準備做出相關實驗 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.
如果電是像水一樣四處流動的流體 If electricity is a fluid that flows, a bit like water,
那麼 儲蓄水的方法應該也適用於儲蓄電 then maybe you can store it in the same way that you can store water.
於是Musschenbroek在他的實驗室 So Musschenbroek went to his laboratory
開始嘗試製作一個儲電裝置 to try to make a device to store electricity.
他開始了細緻的思考 Musschenbroek started to think literally.
他將水倒入玻璃瓶裏 He took a glass jar and poured in some water.
隨後 在瓶中安插了一根導線 He then placed inside it a length of conducting wire...
導線的另一頭 則連接了Hauksbee起電器 ..which was connected at the top to a Hauksbee electric machine.
接著 他為了保留住電荷 'Then he put the jar on an insulator
將瓶子放在了一塊絕緣體上 to help keep the charge in the jar.'
最後 他將起電器產生的電 He then tried to pour the electricity into the jar
通過導線 produced by the machine via the wire
引入瓶裏的水中 down through into the water.
可他無論如何都沒法把電荷留在瓶子裏 'But whatever he tried, the charge just wouldn't stay in the jar.
有一天 出於意外 'Then one day, by accident,
他忘了把瓶子放在絕緣體上 'he forgot to put the jar on the insulator,
手握著瓶子就開閘放電 'but charged it instead while it was still in his hand.'
他一隻手拿著瓶子 Finally, holding the jar with one hand,
另一隻手碰了下蓋子 he touched the top with the other
結果受到了猛烈電擊 and received such a powerful electric shock,
他幾乎當場跌倒在地 he was almost thrown to the ground.
他記錄道 「這個實驗新穎卻又可怕 He writes, "It's a new but terrible experiment
「建議大家切勿嘗試 "which I advise you never to try. Nor would I, who've experienced it
「我蒙上帝庇護 才得以倖免於難 "and survived by the grace of God do it again
「為了整個法蘭西王國 我自己也不會再試第二次」 "for all the kingdom of France."
我現在決定聽取他的建議 不去碰瓶蓋 So I'm going to heed his advice, not touch the top,
不過 我想看看我能不能激起火花來 and instead see if I can get a spark off of it.
從這個瓶中涌出的電 The sheer power of the electricity which flew from the jar
威力空前巨大 was greater than any seen before.
更不可思議的是 And even more surprisingly,
這個瓶子可以將電存儲數小時 乃至幾天 the jar could store that electricity for hours, even days.
為了紀念這座Musschenbroek作出發明的城市 So in honour of the city where Musschenbroek made his discovery,
這個裝置被稱為「萊頓瓶」 they called it the Leiden jar.
聲名遠播至全世界 And its fame swept across the world.
很快 1745年到1750年間 And very rapidly, from 1745 through the rest of the 1740s,
「萊頓瓶」成了享譽全球的新事物 the news of this - it's called the Leiden jar - goes global.
往東傳到了東亞日本 It spreads from Japan in East Asia
向西傳到了美國東部的費城 to Philadelphia in eastern America.
萊頓瓶成了第一個迅速全球化的新發明 It became one of the first quick, globalised, scientific news items.
雖然萊頓瓶風靡全球 But although the Leiden jar became a global electrical phenomenon,
其原理卻不為人所知 no-one had the slightest idea how it worked.
當你手握一瓶帶電流體時 You have a jar of electric fluid,
如果你讓它通過你的身體流進地面 and it turns out that you get a bigger shock from the jar
遭到的電擊竟會更強烈 if you allow the electric fluid to drain away to the earth.
為什麼電漏掉了 電擊反而更猛？ Why is the shock bigger if the jar's leaking?
為什麼當所有的電都還在瓶子裏的時候 Why isn't the shock bigger if you make sure all the electric fluid
電擊反而弱一些？ stays inside the jar?
這就是18世紀電學研究者們 That was how mid-18th century electrical philosophers
所面臨的難題 were faced with this challenge.
電無疑成了一個詭異的謎 Electricity was without doubt a fantastical wonder.
它能讓人觸電並產生火花 It could shock and spark.
現在也能被儲存並四處轉移 It could now be stored and moved around.
可是 電的本質 Yet what electricity was, how it worked,
還有各種奇怪的電效應 and why it did all these things
都沒有人能夠解答 was nothing less than a complete mystery.
不到10年內 另一項重要的新突破 Within 10 years, a new breakthrough was to come
在一個人們始料未及的地方出現了 from an unexpected quarter,
做出這個突破的 是一個在政治上與思想上 From a man politically and philosophically at war
都與倫敦當局背道而馳的人 with the London establishment.
更令自命不凡的英國學者們吃驚的是 And even more shockingly for the British electrical elite,
他只是一個小小的英屬殖民地居民 that man was merely a colonial.
一個美國人 An American.
這張本傑明·富蘭克林的畫像 This painting of Benjamin Franklin
懸掛在英國皇家學會的牆上 hangs here at the Royal Society in London.
富蘭克林堅定地支持美國獨立 Franklin was a passionate supporter of American emancipation
他也相信 對理性科學的研究 and saw the pursuit of rational science,
尤其是對電學的探索 and particularly electricity,
可以用來反駁愚昧無知且傲慢自大的權貴們 as a way of rolling back ignorance, false idols
繼而成為對抗宗主國所謂學術精英們的有力武器 and ultimately his intellectually elitist colonial masters.
他與他的同道們將這樣的想法 And this is mixed
與平等和民主的思想結合了起來 with a profoundly egalitarian democratic idea
他們相信 that Franklin and his allies have,
電 既然是眾所周知的現象 那麼誰都有權去研究它 which is this is a phenomenon open to everyone.
有些東西精英們沒弄明白 Here's something that the elite doesn't really understand
而我們也許能弄明白 and we might be able to understand it.
有些東西他們沒法控制 Here's something that the elite can't really control
而我們也許能控制 but we might be able to control.
尤其是那些被認為是超自然的事物 And here's something above all which is the source of superstition.
我們這些理性的 主張人人平等的 And we, rational, egalitarian,
有民主思想的知識分子 potentially democratic, intellectuals,
要客觀地推出它們的原理 we will be able to reason it out,
而不是去當鼓吹魔法和神秘主義的傀儡 without appearing to be the slaves of magic or mystery.
因此 富蘭克林決定依靠理性的力量 So Franklin decided to use the power of reason
合理地解釋一個被許多人 to rationally explain what many
認為是魔法的現象... considered a magical phenomenon...
閃電 Lightning.
這應該是18世紀科學史上 This is probably one of the most famous scientific images
最著名的一幕 of the 18th century.
英雄般的科學家本傑明·富蘭克林 It shows Benjamin Franklin, the heroic scientist,
在暴風雨中放風箏 flying a kite in a storm,
最終證明閃電也是電的一種 proving that lightning is electrical.
但是 儘管富蘭克林設計了這個實驗 But although Franklin proposed this experiment,
他自己卻從未將它付諸實踐 he almost certainly never performed it.
更可靠的說法是 這個偉大的實驗 Much more likely is that his most significant experiment
是富蘭克林諸多設計了卻並未實施的實驗之一 was another one which he proposed but didn't even conduct.
事實上 這個實驗甚至不是在美國進行的 In fact, it didn't even happen in America.
而是在這兒 巴黎北部的一個小鎮 It took place here in a small village north of Paris
馬利鎮 called Marly La Ville.
法國人崇拜富蘭克林 尤其是他反英的政治傾向 The French adored Franklin, especially his anti-British politics,
他們決定自己完成這個 and they took it upon themselves to perform
富蘭克林沒有親手做過的閃電實驗 his other lightning experiments without him.
這就是當時進行實驗的地方 I've come to the very spot where that experiment took place.
1753年5月 喬治-路易·勒克萊爾 In May 1752, George Louis Leclerc,
也就是法國人熟悉的布豐伯爵 known across France as the Compte de Buffon,
和他的朋友Thomas Francois Dalibard一起 and his friend Thomas Francois Dalibard,
豎起了一根40英尺高的金屬桿 是這根的兩倍長 erected a 40-ft metal pole, more than twice as high as this one,
將它固定在三個木支架中間 held in place by three wooden staves,
放在Dalibard在馬利鎮的房子旁邊 just outside Dalibard's house here in the Marly La Ville.
金屬桿底部安插在一個空酒瓶裏 The metal pole rested at the bottom inside an empty wine bottle.
富蘭克林的實驗原理 是用長桿捕獲閃電 Franklin's big idea had been that the long pole
然後把它輸送到下面 would capture the lightning, pass it down the metal rod
儲存在酒瓶裏 and store it in the wine bottle at the base
就像萊頓瓶一樣 which worked as a Leiden jar.
這樣便能夠證實 閃電也是電的一種 Then, he could confirm what lightning actually was.
萬事俱備 只欠雷雨... All his French followers had to do was wait for a storm.
而在5月23日 蒼穹驟開 And then on May 23rd, the heavens opened.
12點20分 他們聽到一聲驚雷 At 12.20, a loud thunderclap was heard
閃電擊中了金屬桿頂部 as lightning hit the top of the pole.
一個助手跑到瓶子前 An assistant ran to the bottle,
伴隨一聲巨響 a spark leapt across
火花在金屬桿和他手指間一閃 between the metal and his finger with a loud crack
散發出一股硫磺味 灼燒著他的手 and a sulphurous smell, burning his hand.
火花揭示了閃電的真面目 The spark revealed lightning for what it really was.
它和人為製造出的電並無二致 It was the same as the electricity made by man.
這是里程碑式的一刻 It is hard to overestimate the significance of this moment.
人類掀開了大自然神秘的面紗 Nature had been mastered, not only that but the wrath of God itself
而上帝親創的自然現象 也已被人類掌握 had been brought under the control of mankind.
這可能跟教義有點兒衝突 It was a kind of heresy.
富蘭克林的實驗非常重要 因為它說明了 Franklin's experiment was very important because it showed that
雷暴和電之間具有直接的因果關係 lightning storms produce or are produced by electricity
而這種電 是可以人力捕獲的 and that you can bring this electricity down,
電 這種大自然的力量 that electricity is a force of nature
正等著被開發利用 that's waiting out there to be tapped.
接下來 富蘭克林將其理性的頭腦轉向另一個問題 Next, Franklin turned his rational mind to another question.
為什麼將萊頓瓶拿在手中時 Why the Leiden jar made the biggest sparks
它會產生最激烈的電火花？ when it was held in the hand?
為什麼電能沒有流走？ Why didn't all the electricity just drain away?
憑藉著他在從商時積累的經驗 In drawing on his experience as a successful businessman,
他悟出了這個其他人從未想到的答案 he saw something no-one else had.
那就是 電就像銀行裏的錢一樣 That like money in a bank,
當它被借入時 電量是正的 叫做正電 electricity can be in credit, what he called positive,
被貸出時 電量為負 也就是負電 or debit, negative.
在他看來 萊頓瓶的問題就像賬戶管理 For him, the problem of the Leiden jar is one of accountancy.
富蘭克林的想法是 Franklin's idea was
每個物體周圍環繞著一個帶電的環境 every body has around an electrical atmosphere.
所以 它們都有一定量的帶電流體環伺 And there is a natural amount of electric fluid around each body.
如果量太多 我們可以稱其為顯正電 If there is too much, we will call it positive.
量太少 則可以稱作其為顯負電 If there is too little, we will call it negative.
大自然總是有秩序的 因此正電和負電 And nature is organised so the positives and negatives
總會試圖相互中和 達到平衡 always want to balance out,
就像理想狀態下的美國經濟 like an ideal American economy.
富蘭克林認為 電的本質就是正電荷流動 Franklin's insight was that electricity was actually just positive charge
試圖中和負電荷的過程 flowing to cancel out negative charge.
他相信這個簡單的道理 And he believed this simple idea
可以解開萊頓瓶之謎 could solve the mystery of the Leiden jar.
當萊頓瓶充電時 As the jar is charged up,
負電荷順導線流入水中 negative electrical charge is poured down the wire and into the water.
如果瓶子放在絕緣體上 只會有少量電荷存在於水中 If the jar rests on an insulator, a small amount builds up in the water.
可如果充電的瓶子被人拿在手上 But, if instead the jar is held by someone as it is being charged,
大地的正電荷 positive electric charge
通過身體被吸引到 is sucked up through their body from the ground
瓶子外邊 to the outside of the jar,
試圖抵消瓶內的負電荷 trying to cancel out the negative charge inside.
但是正電荷與負電荷 But the positive and negative charges
無法彼此抵消 are stopped from cancelling out
因為玻璃瓶身是絕緣的 by the glass which acts as an insulator.
電荷只會在兩邊不斷聚集 Instead, the charge just grows and grows on both sides of the glass.
此時 用另一隻手去碰瓶蓋 Then, touching the top of the jar with it the other hand,
就會形成回路 使瓶內的負電荷 completes a circuit allowing the negative charge on the inside
通過手臂傳送到瓶外的正電荷處 to pass through the hand to the positive on the outside,
最終彼此抵消 finally cancelling it out.
這種電荷的移動 會導致猛烈放電 而且會產生火花 The movement of this charge causes a massive shock and often a spark.
現代的電容器 就類似於當時的萊頓瓶 The modern equivalent of the Leiden jar is this - the capacitor.
這是最常見的電子組件之一 It is one of the most ubiquitous of electronic components.
它幾乎無處不在 It is found everywhere.
在這塊電腦板卡上 分佈著許多小的電容器 There are a number of smaller ones scattered around on this circuit board from a computer.
它們可以起到穩壓的作用 They help smooth out electrical surges,
保護敏感的組件 protecting sensitive components,
哪怕在現在 它們都依然是電路中的重要元件 even in the most modern electric circuit.
解開萊頓瓶之謎 Solving the mystery of the Leiden jar
和確認閃電的本質 and recognising lightning as merely a kind of electricity
是富蘭克林和新啟蒙運動 were two great successes for Franklin
取得的兩項巨大突破 and the new Enlightenment movement.
然而商業貿易的力量 But the forces of trade and commerce,
既推動了啟蒙運動 which helped fuel the Enlightenment,
也帶來了一個新的 were about to throw up a new
同時也更令人費解的電學謎題 and even more perplexing electrical mystery.
人們發現了「另一種電」 A completely new kind of electricity.
這裏是英吉利海峽 This is the English Channel.
在17至18世紀之間 By the 17th and 18th centuries,
大量物資從大英帝國的各殖民地 甚至更遠的地方 a good fraction of the world's wealth flowed up this stretch of water
運到這片海域 from all corners of the British Empire
一路直達倫敦 and beyond, on its way to London.
其中有來自印度的香料 加勒比海的糖 Spices from India, sugar from the Caribbean,
美洲的小麥以及中國的茶葉 wheat from America, tea from China.
當然 運來的不止商業貨物 But, of course, it wasn't just commerce.
新的動植物樣本 New plants and animal specimens
也從世界各地涌入倫敦 from all over the world came flooding into London,
其中就包括一種生物 它尤其使電學家著迷 including one that particularly fascinated the electricians.
它叫做電鰩 曾一度是漁民傳說中的生物 Called the torpedo fish, it had been the stuff of fishermen's tales.
據說 它一口便能放倒一個成年人 Its sting, it was said, was capable of knocking a grown man down.
然而 隨著電學家著手研究這種現象 But as the electricians started to investigate the sting,
他們發現 它與萊頓瓶所導致的觸電感 they realised it felt strangely similar to a shock
有著奇妙的相似 from a Leiden jar.
它的叮咬可不可能就是電擊呢？ Could its sting actually be an electric shock?
起初 許多人認為電鰩放電是一種神秘的現象 At first, many people dismissed the torpedo fish's shock as occult.
有些人說那可能只是單純的魚咬人 Some said it was probably just the fish biting.
其他人則認為那不可能是放電 因為沒有電火花 Others that it could not be a shock because, without a spark,
它根本就與電無關 it just wasn't electricity.
然而 對絕大多數人來說 這的確是一個極其奇特 But, for most, it was a very strange
又令人費解的新謎題 and inexplicable new mystery.
英國科學史上一位最古怪 It would take one of the oddest
同時也是最聰明的角色 yet most brilliant characters in British science
即將著手揭開電鰩的秘密 to begin to unlock the secrets of the torpedo fish.
這是僅有的一張亨利·卡文迪許的畫像 This is the only picture in existence
他極度靦腆而才華橫溢 of the pathologically shy but exceptional Henry Cavendish.
一名畫家在給他的大衣畫速寫之後 This one only exists because an artist sketched his coat
憑記憶補全了他的臉 as it hung on a peg,
否則估計連這一張畫像都不會有 then filled in the face from memory.
他家境殷實 His family were fantastically rich.
家族是德文郡人 They were the Devonshires
德比郡的查茨沃斯莊園現仍在他家名下 who still own Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.
而亨利·卡文迪許決定背棄 Henry Cavendish decided to turn his back
他家族的財產和地位 on his family's wealth and status
定居倫敦 比鄰他所摯愛的皇家學會 to live in London near his beloved Royal Society
在那裏 他可以一心一意地從事他熱愛的實驗科學 where he could quietly pursue his passion for experimental science.
他聽說了電鰩的故事後便沉迷其中 When he heard about the electric torpedo fish, he was intrigued.
一位朋友寫給他說 A friend wrote to him...
「通過我第一次對電鰩效果的體驗 "On this, my first experience of the effect of the torpedo,
「我斷定這絕對是電流 "I exclaimed that this is certainly electricity.
「但它是怎麼產生的呢？」 "But how?"
為了弄懂一個生物是怎麼可以產生電流的 And to work out how a living thing could produce electricity,
他決定自己做一條人工魚 he decided to make his own artificial fish.
他的計劃是這樣的 These are his plans.
把兩個魚形的萊頓瓶埋在沙子裏 Two Leiden jars shaped like the fish which were buried under sand.
當碰到沙子時 萊頓瓶會放電 產生劇烈的電擊感 When the sand was touched, they discharged, giving a nasty shock.
他的模型使他相信 真正的電鰩能放電 His model helped convince him that the real torpedo fish was electric.
但還有一個令他困擾的難題 But it still left him with a nagging problem.
儘管電鰩和他自己的「人工鰩」 Although both the real fish and Cavendish's artificial one
都能產生強大的電流 gave powerful electric shocks,
真正的電鰩卻從不發出電火花 the real fish never sparked.
卡文迪許困惑了 Cavendish was perplexed.
如果它們不產生相同的現象 How could it be the same kind of electricity
那它們怎麼可能是同一種電呢？ if they didn't both do the same kinds of things?
卡文迪許在實驗室裏度過了1773年的冬天 Cavendish spent the winter of 1773 in his laboratory
他潛心鑽研 尋找答案 trying to come up with an answer.
來年春天 他終於有了靈感 In the spring, he had a brainwave.
卡文迪許獨到的見解 Cavendish's ingenious answer was to point out a subtle distinction
解釋了電量和電強度之間的微妙差異 between the amount of electricity and its intensity.
電鰩產生的 是同樣的電 The real fish produced the same kind of electricity.
只是沒那麼強而已 It is just that it was less intense.
對於我們物理學家來說 這標明著一個重大的轉折點 For a physicist like me, this marks a crucial turning point.
此時此刻 兩個突破性的科學觀點登場了 But it is the moment when two genuinely innovative scientific ideas first crop up.
卡文迪許提及的電量 What Cavendish refers to as the amount of electricity,
也就是我們現在所說的「電荷」 we now call "electric charge".
他所提到的強度 His intensity is what we call
也就是電勢差 或「電壓」 the potential difference or "voltage".
因此萊頓瓶放出的電 電壓高 但電荷少 So the Leiden jar's shock was high-voltage but low charge
而電鰩放出的電 電壓低 電荷多 whereas the fish was low voltage and high charge.
我們可以測量一下 It's possible to actually measure that.
躲藏著這個水缸底部沙層下面的 Hiding at the bottom of this tank under the sand
是石紋電鰩 屬於電鰩科的一種 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.
這是一條完全成熟的雌魚 This is a fully grown female
而我將要用這個餌去誘發並且測量 and I am going to try and measure
它放出的電流 the electricity it gives off with this bait.
我把一條魚掛在金屬棒上 I have a fish connected to a metal rod and hooked up
另一頭連著示波器 to an oscilloscope
來看看我能否可以在它捕食獵物的時候測出電壓 to see if I can measure the voltage as it catches its prey.
開始吧 Here goes!
有讀數了！ Oh! There's one!
又來一次 There's another one.
這條魚放的電大概有240伏特 The fish gave a shock of about 240 volts,
和家用電一樣 但仍比萊頓瓶 the same as mains electricity, but still roughly 10 times less
低了大約十倍 than the Leiden jar.
但那也足夠狠狠地電我一下了 That would have given me quite a nasty shock
我無法知道18世紀的科學家目睹了這個 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.
一隻動物 一條魚 自身產生電流 An animal, a fish, producing its own electricity.
卡文迪許已經展示了電鰩可以放電 Cavendish had shown that the torpedo fish made electricity
但他不知道這和起電器所發的電 but he didn't know if it was the same kind of electricity
是不是同一種電 as that made from an electrical machine.
電鰩所放出的電 Is the electrical shock that a torpedo produces
會和起電器發的電一樣嗎？ the same as produced by an electrical machine?
或者 它們是兩種不同的類型？ Or are there two kinds?
或許 它們一種是人造的電 而另一種 A kind generated artificially or is there a kind of animal electricity
是只存在於生物體內的生物電呢？ that only exists in living bodies?
在這個問題上 人們爭論不休 This was a huge debate
幾十年來 這個分歧都無法化解 that divided opinion for several decades.
尖銳的爭論引出了一個新的發現 Out of that bitter debate came a new discovery.
這個發現表明 電不一定要是閃一下 或是發出電火花 The discovery that electricity needn't be a brief shock or spark.
它也可以是持續的 It could actually be continuous.
可持續電的產生 And the generation of continuous electricity
最終推動了人們走向現代社會的腳步 would ultimately propel us into our modern age.
兩位意大利學者 But the next step in the story of electricity would come about
在個人和學術上的激烈競爭 because of a fierce personal and professional rivalry
即將為電的故事寫下新的篇章 between two Italian academics.
這是博洛尼亞大學 歐洲歷史最悠久的大學之一 This is Bologna University, one of the oldest in Europe.
在18世紀末期 In the late 18th century,
博洛尼亞城被羅馬教皇統治 the city of Bologna was ruled from papal Rome
因此 這所大學雖實力強大 which meant that the university was powerful
思想卻比較保守 but conservative in its thinking.
傳統基督教的思想深浸其中 It was steeped in traditional Christianity,
神的子嗣高坐於天堂統治人間 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
我等區區凡人 was hidden from us mere mortals
生來便不是為了去看透他 who were not meant to understand him,
而是去服從他的 only to serve him.
大學裏最耀眼的明星之一 One of the university's brightest stars
便是解剖學家Galvani was the anatomist Luigi Aloisio Galvani.
但是 在一座鄰近的城市 But, in a neighbouring city,
他的學術對手向Galvani發出了挑戰 a rival electrician was about to take Galvani to task.
這裏是帕維亞 距博洛尼亞僅150英里 This is Pavia, only 150 miles from Bologna,
但到了18世紀末期 but by the end of the 18th century,
它們呈現出了不同的政治面貌 worlds apart politically.
帕維亞成為了奧地利帝國的一部分 It was part of the Austrian empire which put it
而且是歐洲啟蒙運動的中心 at the very heart of the European Enlightenment.
這裏的人們崇尚思想解放 推行激進的政治主張 Liberal in its thinking, politically radical
同時也被新興的電學深深吸引 and obsessed with the new science of electricity.
這裏也是Alessandro Volta的家鄉 It was also home to Alessandro Volta.
Volta與Galvani有著天壤之別 Alessandro Volta couldn't have been more unlike Galvani.
出生於古老的倫巴第家族 他年輕 傲慢 魅力四射 From an old Lombardi family, he was young, arrogant, charismatic,
是一位名副其實的白馬王子 a real ladies' man,
並且他生性好辯 and he courted controversy.
不同於Galvani 他熱衷於在國際舞台上 Unlike Galvani, he liked to show off his experiments
向觀眾誇耀他的實驗 on an international stage to any audience.
Volta的想法才不像Galvani那樣受宗教教義的約束 Volta's ideas were unfettered by Galvani's religious dogma.
猶如本傑明·富蘭克林和歐洲啟蒙運動 Like Benjamin Franklin and the European Enlightenment,
他崇尚理性 he believed in rationality -
相信科學事實 that scientific truth,
就如希臘神靈 會棄愚昧無知於地 like a Greek god, would cast ignorance to the floor.
與迷信為敵 他相信 未來是屬於理性的 Superstition was the enemy. Reason was the future.
兩人都被電學所吸引 Both men were fascinated by electricity.
也都提出了自己的見解 Both brought their different ways of seeing the world to bear on it.
Galvani被電在醫學治療中的 Galvani had been attracted to the use of electricity
運用前景所吸引 in medical treatments.
比方說 1759年 在博洛尼亞 For instance, in 1759, here in Bologna,
電流就被作用於一位癱瘓患者的肌肉上 electricity was used on the muscles of a paralysed man.
一份報告記載 One report said,
「看能到乳突骨帶動頭部轉動真是太好了 "It was a fine sight to see the mastoid rotate the head,
「肱二頭肌帶動肘部的彎曲 "the biceps bend the elbow.
「總而言之 見證了每塊受刺激的癱瘓肌肉 "In short, to see the force and vitality of all the motions
「表現出一切運動所擁有的活力和力量」 "occurring in every paralysed muscle subjected to the stimulus."
Galvani堅信這類實例 Galvani believed these kinds of examples
揭示了身體的運動要依靠生物電流 revealed that the body worked using animal electricity,
一種從大腦流出 a fluid that flows from the brain,
經過神經 through the nerves, into the muscles,
最後流入肌肉轉變成運動的流體 where it's turned into motion.
他設計出了一系列駭人的實驗來證明這個理論 He devised a series of grisly experiments to prove it.
首先 他先準備了一隻青蛙 Now, he first prepared a frog.
他寫道 青蛙是剝了皮 取出了內臟的 He writes, "The frog is skinned and disembowelled.
只有它們的下肢 包括腿部神經 "Only their lower limbs are left joined together,
是留下來連在一起的 "containing just the crural nerves."
我留下的青蛙幾乎是完整無缺的 I've left my frog mostly intact,
但我讓它們連接腿部的神經裸露在外 but I've exposed the nerves that connect to the frog's legs.
之後他用Hauksbee起電器 Then he used Hauksbee's electrical machine
產生靜電電荷 to generate electrostatic charge,
電荷在此聚集並穿過這根支管 that would accumulate and travel along this arm
然後從這根銅絲出來 and out through this copper wire.
接著 他把這根載有電荷的銅絲連接到青蛙上 Then he connected the charge-carrying wire to the frog
另一根接到恰好位於腿上的神經上 and another to the nerve just above the leg.
讓我們看看有什麼現象發生 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.
就是這樣 There we go!
對於Galvani來說 這種現象表明在動物肌肉中 For Galvani, what was going on there was that there's a strange,
有某種奇特物質的存在 special kind of entity in the animal muscle,
他把它稱為生物電流 which he calls animal electricity.
它不像其他任何一種電流 它是生物所固有的 It's not like any other electricity. It's intrinsic to living beings.
但對Volta而言 生物電流的說法純屬無稽之談 But for Volta, animal electricity smacked of superstition and magic.
在倡導理性和進步的科學中沒有立足之地 It had no place in rational and enlightened science.
Volta對這個實驗的看法與Galvani大相逕庭 Volta saw the experiment completely differently to Galvani.
他確信這個實驗揭示了截然不同的事實 He believed it revealed something totally new.
對他而言 腿的抽搐不是作為生物電流 For him, the legs weren't jumping as a result
從體內釋放的結果 of the release of animal electricity from within them,
而是源自於外界電流的流入 but because of the artificial electricity from outside.
蛙腿只是起指示作用 The legs were merely the indicator.
它們會抽搐 純粹是因為起電器產生的電流 They were only twitching because of the electricity from the Hauksbee machine.
而在博洛尼亞 Galvani對Volta的說法惱羞成怒 Back in Bologna, Galvani reacted furiously to Volta's ideas.
他認定Volta已經超出了根本的底線 He believed Volta had crossed a fundamental line -
從電學實驗逾越到了神界 from electrical experiments into God's realm,
在他看來 這無異於異端邪說 and that was tantamount to heresy.
電 這種奇妙的力量 To have a kind of spirit like electricity,
竟然可以由人類創造出來 to have that produced artificially
而Volta把這種鮮活而神奇的力量 and to say that spirit, that living force,
與上帝親創 並賦予人類和青蛙的 that agency was the same as something produced by God,
生命之力相提並論 that God had put into a living human body or a frog's body,
這無疑是在褻瀆神明 that seemed sacrilegious to them,
因為這等於是將上帝的無上神聖 because it was eliminating this boundary between God's realm of the divine
與低微的物質世界混為一談了 and the mundane realm of the material.
為了捍衛自己的宗教信仰 Spurred on by his religious indignation,
Galvani公佈了一組新的實驗數據 Galvani announced a new series of experimental results,
試圖推翻Volta的理論 which would prove Volta was wrong.
在一次實驗中 他把青蛙吊在一根鐵絲上 During one of his experiments, he hung his frogs on an iron wire
得到了一個意料之外的發現 and saw something totally unexpected.
當他把一根銅絲和懸掛青蛙的鐵絲連接在一起 If he connected copper wire to the wire the frog was hanging from,
並用銅絲的另一頭去觸碰青蛙神經的時候 and then touched the other end of the copper to the nerve...
似乎青蛙的腿會隨之抽搐 ..it seemed to him he could make the frog's legs twitch
而整個過程中並無外加電流 without any electricity at all.
因此 Galvani得出結論 Galvani came to the conclusion that it must have been
哪怕是在死去的青蛙體內 something inside the frogs, even if dead,
都依然殘留著一些能發電的東西 that continued for a while after death to produce some kind of electricity.
而這些電則會通過鐵絲流出 And the metal wires were somehow releasing that electricity.
隨後的幾個月 Over the next months,
Galvani的實驗重點便變成了提取這種「動物電」 Galvani's experiments focused on isolating this animal electricity
而實驗器具包括青蛙 金屬 using combinations of frog and metal,
萊頓瓶 以及一些電學儀器 Leiden jars and electrical machines.
對於Galvani來說 這些實驗是為了證明 For Galvani, these experiments were proof the electricity
電是由青蛙自身發出的 was originating within the frog itself.
青蛙的肌肉就像萊頓瓶 它們存儲電流 The frog's muscles were Leiden jars, storing up the electrical fluid
然後將它們迅速釋放出來 and then releasing it in a burst.
1786年10月30日 他將他的發現著書發表 On 30th October, 1786, he published his findings in a book,
書名為Animali Electricitate Animali Electricitate -
即《論動物電》 Of Animal Electricity.
Galvani對自己的著作信心十足 Galvani was so confident of his ideas,
還得意地寄了一本給Volta he even sent a copy of his book to Volta.
然而 Volta卻無論如何 But Volta just couldn't stomach
也不能接受「動物電」的概念 Galvani's idea of animal electricity.
他相信 這些電一定是從別的地方來的 He thought the electricity just had to come from somewhere else.
但是它從哪裏來呢？ But where?
18世紀90年代 在帕維亞大學 In the 1790s, here at the University of Pavia,
就在這間現在以他的名字命名的教室裏 almost certainly in this lecture theatre, which still bears his name,
Volta開始了對這種新型電流的尋找之旅 Volta began his search for the new source of electricity.
他著重研究的 His suspicions focused on the metals
是那些Galvani用來讓青蛙腿抽搐的金屬 that Galvani had used to make his frog's legs twitch.
他覺得這其中定有蹊蹺 His curiosity had been piqued
而他的靈感 則來自於一個奇特的發現 by an odd phenomenon he come across -
那就是 混合金屬嘗起來是有味道的 how combinations of metals tasted.
當他把兩枚用不同金屬所製的硬幣 He found that if he took two different metal coins
重疊放在自己的舌尖上 and placed them on the tip of his tongue,
並在頂部放上一把銀匙時 and then placed a silver spoon on top of both...
他覺得舌尖發麻 ..he got a kind of tingling sensation,
這種感覺跟被萊頓瓶電到是一樣的 rather like the tingling you'd get from the discharge of a Leiden jar.
Volta隨之得出結論 電是有「味道」的 Volta concluded he could taste the electricity
而這種感覺 肯定來自於 and it must be coming from
勺子和銀幣中不同金屬的接觸 the contact between the different metals in the coins and spoon.
他的理論 與Galvani的背道而馳 His theory flew in the face of Galvani's.
青蛙腿的抽搐 並不是由於自身帶電 The frog's leg twitched, not because of its own animal electricity,
而是因為它被金屬所電 but because it was reacting to the electricity from the metals.
然而 硬幣生成的電非常微弱 But the electricity his coins generated was incredibly weak.
怎樣才能把它變強呢？ How could he make it stronger?
在重新翻閱文獻時 Then an idea came to him as he revisited the scientific papers
他從偉大的英國科學家亨利·卡文迪許 from the great British scientist, Henry Cavendish,
著名的電鰩研究中 得到了靈感 and in particular, his famous work on the electric torpedo fish.
他仔細地再次觀察了電鰩 He went back and took a closer look at the torpedo fish
尤其是它們背脊板上的花紋 and in particular, the repeating pattern of chambers in its back.
他猜想 可能正是這些重複的花紋 He wondered whether it was this repeating pattern
使電鰩擁有了發電的能力 that held the key to its powerful electric shock.
也許 每一塊板就像硬幣和勺子一樣 Perhaps each chamber was like his coins and spoon,
能產生微弱的電 each generating a tiny amount of electricity.
也許 電鰩所能發出的強烈電擊 And, perhaps, the fish's powerful shock
是來自於這些重複的背脊板 results from the pattern of chambers repeating over and over again.
胸有成竹的Volta決定做出反擊 With growing confidence in his new ideas, Volta decided to fight back
他要製作出人工電鰩 by building his own artificial version of the torpedo fish.
於是 他根據電鰩背脊板的原理 So, he copied the torpedo fish
做出了一條「仿真版」 by repeating its pattern,
所用的材料 卻是金屬 but using metal.
他將一塊銅板 Here's what he did - he took a copper metal plate
放到一張浸過稀酸的紙板下面 and then placed above it a piece of card soaked in dilute acid.
然後再疊上另一塊金屬板 Then above that, he took another metal and placed it on top.
這個系統與Galvani的鐵絲和銅絲其實是一樣的 What he had here was exactly the same thing as Galvani's two wires.
不過現在 Volta將這個過程重複多次 But now Volta repeated the process.
做成了一疊金屬堆 What he was doing here was building a pile of metal.
之後 這個組合被稱作「伏特電堆」 In fact, his invention became known as the pile.
這機器本身並不足為奇 可它卻有著承前啟後的意義 But it's what it could do that was the really incredible revelation.
Volta親身測試了電堆的威力 Volta tried his pile out on himself by getting two wires
他將兩根電線接在了電堆的兩端 and attaching them to each end of the pile
並用舌頭去觸碰電線的另一端 and bringing the other ends to touch his tongue.
直觀地「嘗到」了電的味道 He could actually taste the electricity.
這次的觸感比以前更強烈 也更持久 This time, it was more powerful than normal and it was constant.
就這樣 他創造出了史上第一塊電池 He'd created the first battery.
和以前不同 它可以不借助機械力量產生電流 The machine was no longer an electrical and mechanical machine,
而是作為一個純粹的電子設備獨立存在 it was just purely an electrical machine.
他證明了我們可以做出仿真電鰩的機器 So he proved that a machine imitating the fish could work,
並且可以利用不同的金屬組合來發電 that what he called the metal or contact electricity of different metals could work,
他認為 這讓他在與Galvani的爭執中 and that he regarded as his final,
有力地畫上了完美的句號 winning move in the controversy with Galvani.
伏特電堆的發明 What Volta's pile showed was that
讓我們知道我們可以人工地造出「動物電」 you could develop all the phenomena
並且 其過程根本不需要動物 of animal electricity without any animals being present.
所以 在Volta看來 So, from the Voltaic point of view,
Galvani的觀點是錯誤的 it seemed as if Galvani was wrong,
動物身上的電並無特別之處 there's nothing special about the electricity in animals.
「動物電」就是電 It's electricity
它完全可以被這台人工設備製造出來 and it can be completely mimicked by this artificial pile.
然而 出乎Volta的意料 But the biggest surprise for Volta was that
電堆所發的電是持續的 the electricity it generated was continuous.
它像河流裏的水一樣源源不斷地流淌著 In fact, it poured out like water in a stream.
河裏流的水是水流 And just as in a stream, where the measure of the amount of water
同樣 從電堆裏流出的電就被稱為「電流」 flowing is called a current, so the electricity flowing out of the pile became known as an electrical current.
200年之後的今天 200 years after Volta,
我們終於徹底理解了電是什麼 we finally understand what electricity actually is.
金屬原子與其他原子一樣 The atoms in metals, like all atoms,
都有一個由電子環繞的原子核 have electrically charged electrons surrounding a nucleus.
然而 金屬中的原子以一種特別的方式 But in metals, the atoms share their outer electrons
與近鄰原子分享自身的電子 with each other in a unique way,
這些電子可以自由地從一個原子移向旁邊的原子 which means they can move from one atom to the next.
如果這些電子同時向同一個方向流動 If those electrons move in the same direction at the same time,
就會最終導致電荷的流動 the cumulative effect is a movement of electric charge.
這種電子運動就是我們所說的「電流」 This flow of electrons is what we call an electric current.
僅在Volta發表電堆實驗細節的數周內 Within weeks of Volta publishing details of his pile,
科學家們發現 電堆的用處不可思議 scientists were discovering something incredible about what it could do.
它對水的影響讓所有人出乎意料 Its effect on ordinary water was completely unexpected.
持續流進水裏的電荷 The constant stream of electric charge into the water
將水分子分解開來 was ripping it up into its constituent parts -
變成了氧氣和氫氣 the gases, oxygen and hydrogen.
電為一個新的時代拉開了序幕 Electricity was heralding the dawn of a new age.
它的作用 已經不限於滿足科學家的好奇心 A new age where electricity ceased being a mere curiosity
而是一種有力的工具 and started being genuinely useful.
有了持續的電流 With constant flowing current electricity,
人們可以輕鬆地提煉出新的化學元素 new chemical elements could be isolated with ease.
這奠定了化學 物理 以及現代工業的基礎 And this laid the foundations for chemistry, physics and modern industry.
Volta的電堆改變了一切 Volta's pile changed everything.
它讓Volta成為了舉世聞名的明星科學家 The pile made Volta an international celebrity,
風光無限 feted by the powerful and the rich.
為了紀念他的貢獻 In recognition,
電學的一個重要參數單位 電壓 以他的名字命名 a fundamental measure of electricity was named in his honour.
伏特 The volt.
他的對手並沒有這麼幸運 But his scientific adversary didn't fare quite so well.
Luigi Aloisio Galvani於1798年12月4日 Luigi Aloisio Galvani died on 4th December 1798,
在抑鬱與潦倒中去世 depressed and in poverty.
在我看來 電學史上最重要的轉折點 For me, it's not the invention of the battery
並不是電池的發明 that marked the crucial turning point in the story of electricity,
而是接下來發生的這件事 it's what happened next.
它發生在倫敦的英國皇家研究所裏 It took place in London's Royal Institution.
這一刻 代表了一個時代的過去 It was the moment that marked the end of one era
也標誌著新時代的到來 and the beginning of another.
Humphry Davy見證了這一刻 It was overseen by Humphry Davy,
他是新一代電學家中的鼻祖 the first of a new generation of electricians.
他初出茅廬 意氣風發 Young, confident and fascinated
為持續電流可能帶來的一切所著迷 by the possibilities of continuous electrical current.
1808年 他造出了史上最大的電池 So, in 1808, he built the world's largest battery.
它佔據了研究所地下室的一整個房間 It filled an entire room underneath the Royal Institution.
這枚電池由800個獨立的伏特電堆組成 It had over 800 individual voltaic piles attached together.
當時空氣中一定都充斥著硫磺的味道吧 It must have hissed and breathed sulphurous fumes.
黑暗的房間中 古老的燭光與油燈下 In a darkened room, lit by centuries-old technology, candles and oil lamps,
Davy將碳棒連接在電池兩端 Davy connected his battery to two carbon filaments
然後讓碳棒相互靠近 and brought the tips together.
電池中持續流出的電流 The continuous flow of electricity from the battery
通過碳棒 穿過中間的空隙 through the filaments leapt across the gap,
產生了一道持久 耀眼的火花 giving rise to a constant and blindingly bright spark.
黑暗不再 曙光破曉！ Out of the darkness came the light.
Davy的弧光燈帶來了光明 Davy's arc light truly symbolises the end of one era
照亮了新時代的開端 and the beginning of our era.
電子時代 The era of electricity.
不過 在這個故事的結尾 還有個陰沉恐怖的花絮 But there's a truly grisly coda to this story.
1803年 Galvani的侄子 Giovanni Aldini In 1803, Galvani's nephew, one Giovanni Aldini,
來到倫敦 做了一個可怕的新型實驗 came to London with a terrifying new experiment.
一名叫George Forster的謀殺犯 A convicted murderer called George Forster
剛在Newgate被處以絞刑 had just been hanged in Newgate.
屍體從行刑架上搬下來之後 When the body was cut down from the gallows,
被直接送至一間演講廳 it was brought directly to the lecture theatre,
在這裏 Aldini開始了他令人毛骨悚然的實驗 where Aldini started his macabre work.
他用一個伏特電堆 Using a voltaic pile,
讓一股電流通過屍體 he began to apply an electric current to the dead man's body.
隨後 Aldini將一塊導體放在死屍的肛門 Then Aldini put one electrical conductor in the dead man's anus
另一塊放在脊椎頂部 and the other at the top of his spine.
Forster僵硬的屍體突然一下坐了起來 Forster's limp, dead body sat bolt upright
他的脊樑骨也弓了起來 and his spine arched and twisted.
乍一看 這具屍體 For a moment, it seemed as though the dead body
彷彿又活過來了 had been brought back to life.
電似乎有著死而復生的力量 It appeared as though electricity might have the power of resurrection.
此事讓一位青年作家 Mary Shelley深有感觸 And this made a profound impact on a young writer called Mary Shelley.
她根據這個故事 Mary Shelley wrote
創作出了史上最震撼人心的經典作品之一 one of the most powerful and enduring stories ever.
它的背景就在Como湖 Based partly here on Lake Como,
《弗蘭克斯坦》講述了一個科學家的故事 Frankenstein tells the story of a scientist,
這位科學家很可能是以Aldini作為原型的 a Galvanist probably based on Aldini,
他通過電 賦予了一個怪物生命 who brings a monster to life using electricity.
當他意識到自己的所作所為是多麼狂妄後 And then, disgusted by his own arrogance,
便將這怪物丟棄了 he abandons his creation.
正如Davy的弧光燈一樣 這本書代表了時代的變更 Just like Davy's arc lamp, this book symbolises changing times.
夢想和浪漫的時代已經死去 The end of the era of miracles and romance
理智與科技的時代來臨了 and the beginning of the era of rationality, industry and science.
在下一集 我們講述這個新的時代 And it's that new age we explore in the next programme,
十八世紀初葉 because at the start of the 19th century,
科學家們發現 電與大自然中 scientists realised electricity was intimately connected
另一種神秘的力量密不可分 with another of nature's mysterious forces...
那就是磁 magnetism.
這個發現徹底改變了世界... And that realisation would completely transform our world.
想要更深入瞭解電學的故事 To find out more about the story of electricity
或者測試自己的能量學知識 and to put your power knowledge to the test,
歡迎參與公開大學的互動能量學小遊戲 try the Open University's interactive energy game.
請訪問bbc.co.uk/electricity Go to bbc.co.uk/electricity
然後根據網頁指示 去公開大學的主頁 ..and follow links to the Open University.