Thomas Thwaites: How I built a toaster -- from scratch

244,742 views ・ 2011-01-14

TED


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翻译人员: Chunyang Hu 校对人员: Hanyang Song
00:15
If we look around us,
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如果我们环顾四周
00:18
much of what surrounds us
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很多我们身边的东西
00:20
started life as various rocks and sludge
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都是从石块泥污里开始它们的生命的
00:23
buried in the ground in various places in the world.
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它们被埋在世界上各个角落的地下
00:27
But, of course, they don't look like rocks and sludge now.
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当然,现在你已经看不出他跟石头和泥污有什么相似的
00:29
They look like TV cameras, monitors,
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它们看上去就是摄像机、电脑屏幕
00:32
annoying radio mics.
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让人讨厌的无线话筒
00:34
And so this magical transformation
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而我的这个项目想尝试着要接触的
00:36
is what I was trying to get at with my project,
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就是这个神奇的转变
00:39
which became known as the Toaster Project.
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这就是大家都知道的烤面包机项目
00:41
And it was also inspired by this quote
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它也是受Douglas Adams的
00:43
from Douglas Adams,
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这句名言的启发
00:45
and the situation is from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
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故事发生在“银河系漫游指南”中
00:48
And the situation it describes
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这个故事所讲述的
00:50
is the hero of the book -- he's a 20th-century man --
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是一个活在20世纪的人
00:53
finds himself alone on a strange planet
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发现自己活在一个奇怪的星球上
00:56
populated only by a technologically primitive people.
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这个星球上人都只会最原始的技术活
00:59
And he kind of assumes that, yes,
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于是他就想,是的,
01:01
he'll become -- these villagers --
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他将成为 -- 这些村民的--
01:03
he'll become their emperor
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他将成为他们的国王
01:05
and transform their society
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并且帮他们完成社会转型
01:07
with his wonderful command of technology
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凭借他极好的对技术
01:09
and science and the elements,
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科学和原理的掌握,
01:11
but, of course, realizes
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但是,他也认识到
01:13
that without the rest of human society,
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在没有其他社会资源的条件下,
01:15
he can barely make a sandwich,
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他很难做出一个三明治,
01:18
let alone a toaster.
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更不用说一台烤面包机了。
01:20
But he didn't have Wikipedia.
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因为这个人不能查阅维基百科。
01:22
So I thought, okay,
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所以我就想,那好,
01:24
I'll try and make an electric toaster from scratch.
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我要试着从头开始做出一台能通电的烤面包机。
01:26
And, working on the idea
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而且,因为我认为
01:28
that the cheapest electric toaster
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最便宜的电烤面包机
01:30
would also be the simplest to reverse-engineer,
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也应该是最容易让我逆向制造的,
01:32
I went and bought the cheapest toaster I could find,
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所以我去买了台我能找到的最便宜的烤面包机,
01:35
took it home
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把它带回家
01:37
and was kind of dismayed to discover
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但是我还是失望的发现
01:39
that, inside this object,
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这个东西
01:41
which I'd bought for just 3.49 pounds,
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这个我只花了3.94磅买的东西
01:44
there were 400 different bits
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居然有400个不同的部件
01:47
made out of a hundred-plus different materials.
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而且这些部件是由100个以上不同材料构成的。
01:51
I didn't have the rest of my life to do this project.
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我不想把我余下的生命全部花在这个项目上;
01:54
I had maybe nine months.
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我只有大概9个月的时间。
01:56
So I thought, okay, I'll start with five.
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所以我就想,那好,我就从5个东西开始入手。
01:58
And these were steel, mica,
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这5个东西分别是钢,云母
02:00
plastic, copper and nickel.
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塑料,铜和镍
02:03
So, starting with steel: how do you make steel?
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于是,从钢铁开始:我们是怎么炼出钢铁的?
02:06
I went and knocked on the door
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我去皇家矿业学院访问了
02:08
of the Rio Tinto Chair
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力拓集团
02:10
of Advanced Mineral Extraction at the Royal School of Mines
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高级矿物提炼部门的主席,
02:13
and said, "How do you make steel?"
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并问道,“你们是怎么做钢铁的?”
02:15
And Professor Cilliers was very kind
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那个Cilliers教授人很好,
02:17
and talked me through it.
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他向我介绍了整个提炼过程
02:19
And my vague rememberings from GCSE science --
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加上对中学科学的模糊记忆--
02:22
well, steel comes from iron,
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钢铁应该是由铁炼出来的,
02:24
so I phoned up an iron mine.
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所以我就打电话给了一个铁矿厂。
02:27
And said, "Hi, I'm trying to make a toaster.
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我说:“你好,我想要做一个烤面包机,
02:29
Can I come up and get some iron?"
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我能到你们那里拿点铁吗?"
02:33
Unfortunately, when I got there -- emerges Ray.
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很不幸的是,当我到那里-- 见到了Ray。
02:36
He had misheard me
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他在电话里听错了我的意思,
02:38
and thought I was coming up because I was trying to make a poster,
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他认为我来他那里只是为了做一个画报,
02:41
and so wasn't prepared to take me into the mines.
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所以就没有准备让我下矿井。
02:44
But after some nagging, I got him to do that.
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但对他唠叨一会之后,他还是带我去了。
02:46
(Video) Ray: It was Crease Limestone,
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(视频)Ray: 它以前是石炭石灰岩,
02:50
and that was produced
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是由
02:52
by sea creatures
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海洋生物
02:55
350 million years ago
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在3亿5千万年前
02:58
in a nice, warm,
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在温暖,
03:00
sunny atmosphere.
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阳光充足的环境下形成的。
03:02
When you study geology,
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当你学地质学的时候,
03:04
you can see what's happened in the past,
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你就能知道这里过去都发生过什么。
03:07
and there were terrific changes in the earth.
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这里都发生过巨大的变化。
03:16
Thomas Thwaites: As you can see, they had the Christmas decorations up.
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正如你看到的,他们已把这里装扮好准备过圣诞节了。
03:20
And of course, it wasn't actually a working mine anymore,
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当然,事实上这个矿井已经不工作了,
03:23
because, though Ray was a miner there,
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因为,虽然Ray曾是这里的矿工
03:26
the mine had closed
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但是这矿井已经被关闭了
03:28
and had been reopened as a kind of tourist attraction,
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而且后来又作为一个旅游景点重新开放,
03:31
because, of course, it can't compete
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因为,很明显
03:33
on the scale of operations which are happening
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它在运营规模上比不上
03:36
in South America, Australia, wherever.
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南美洲,澳大利亚,或其他什么地方。
03:39
But anyway, I got my suitcase of iron ore
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但是不管怎样,我还是把铁矿石装到了到我旅行箱里
03:42
and dragged it back to London on the train,
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并坐火车把它带了伦敦,
03:44
and then was faced with the problem:
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之后我又面临一个问题:
03:46
Okay, how do you make this rock
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那好,我要怎样把这个石头
03:48
into components for a toaster?
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变成烤面包机的部件呢?
03:50
So I went back to Professor Cilliers,
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所以我就回去找了Cilliers教授,
03:52
and he said, "Go to the library."
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他告诉我,“去图书馆吧。”
03:54
So I did
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然后我就去了
03:56
and was looking through the undergraduate textbooks on metallurgy --
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我在那翻阅了本科生冶金学教材--
03:59
completely useless for what I was trying to do.
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但这根本没用
04:02
Because, of course, they don't actually tell you how to do it
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因为,当然,书里面实际上并没有提到
04:05
if you want to do it yourself and you don't have a smelting plant.
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在没有冶炼厂的情况下该如何炼铁。
04:08
So I ended up going to the History of Science Library
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所以我最后去了科学史图书馆
04:10
and looking at this book.
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阅读了这本书
04:12
This is the first textbook on metallurgy
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这是冶金学的第一本教材
04:14
written in the West, at least.
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至少在西方是第一本。
04:16
And there you can see that woodcut
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在这里你们看见的木雕
04:18
is basically what I ended up doing.
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就是我最终做到的
04:20
But instead of a bellows, I had a leaf blower.
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但是我没有风箱,只有一个叶风机。
04:23
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
04:25
And that was something that reoccurred throughout the project,
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在整个项目过程中,我一直有一个感叹,
04:28
was, the smaller the scale you want to work on,
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那就是,你越想从小的地方做起,
04:30
the further back in time you have to go.
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你就得追溯到越远的过去。
04:33
And so this is after
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所以这就是我花了
04:35
a day and about half a night
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一个白天加一半个晚上
04:37
smelting this iron.
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提炼这个铁矿之后。
04:39
I dragged out this stuff,
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我得到了这个东西,
04:41
and it wasn't iron.
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这并不是铁。
04:43
But luckily,
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但幸运的是,
04:45
I found a patent online
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我在网上找了一个专利
04:47
for industrial furnaces that use microwaves,
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就是说可以用微波炉代替工业熔炉。
04:50
and at 30 minutes at full power,
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所以在30分钟全功率运作之后,
04:52
and I was able to finish off the process.
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我终于能够完成这个工序。
04:57
So, my next --
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之后,我接下来的--
04:59
(Applause)
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(掌声)
05:03
The next thing I was trying to get was copper.
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接下来我要试着得到的就是铜。
05:06
Again, this mine
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同样,这里
05:09
was once the largest copper mine in the world.
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曾经是世界上最大的铜矿山。
05:11
It's not anymore,
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现在已经不是了。
05:13
but I found a retired geology professor
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但是我找到了一位退休的地质学教授
05:15
to take me down,
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把我带了下去。
05:17
and he said, "Okay, I'll let you have some water from the mine."
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他说,“那好,我会让你从矿井里取些水走。”
05:20
And the reason I was interested in getting water
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至于我想得到一些水的原因
05:23
is because water which goes through mines
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就是因为流过矿井的水
05:25
becomes kind of acidic
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会含有酸性物质
05:27
and will start picking up,
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矿中的矿物质会渗透
05:29
dissolving the minerals from the mine.
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并溶解在水里
05:31
And a good example of this is the Rio Tinto,
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一个很好的例子就是力拓
05:34
which is in Portugal.
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这是他在葡萄牙的一个分厂。
05:36
As you can see, it's got lots and lots of minerals dissolved in it.
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正如你所见的,有许多的矿物都溶在了这水里。
05:39
So many such
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这东西太多了,
05:41
that it's now just a home for bacteria
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以至于现在都成了那些
05:44
who really like acidic, toxic conditions.
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喜欢在酸性,有毒的环境下生活的细菌的家。
05:47
But anyway, the water I dragged back
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但是不管怎样,那些我从
05:49
from the Isle of Anglesey where the mine was --
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Anglesey岛上,就是铜矿所在地,带回的水--
05:51
there was enough copper in it
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里面有足够的铜矿
05:53
such that I could cast the pins
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这足以让我浇铸出
05:55
of my metal electric plug.
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我要的金属插头。
05:57
So my next thing: I was off to Scotland
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然后接下来:我去了苏格兰
06:00
to get mica.
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去找云母。
06:03
And mica is a mineral
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云母也是一种矿物,
06:06
which is a very good insulator
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是一种很好的绝缘体
06:09
and very good at insulating electricity.
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能很好的阻隔电流.
06:12
That's me getting mica.
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这是我得到了云母的照片。
06:15
And the last material I'm going to talk about today is plastic,
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我今天最后要说的原材料就是塑料。
06:18
and, of course,
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当然,
06:20
my toaster had to have a plastic case.
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我的面包机需要一个塑料的外包装。
06:22
Plastic is the defining feature
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塑料包装是
06:24
of cheap electrical goods.
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便宜电子产品的共同特点。
06:26
And so plastic comes from oil, so I phoned up BP
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塑料是由石油炼来的,所以我给BP公司打了电话
06:29
and spent a good half an hour
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花了大半个小时
06:31
trying to convince the PR office at BP
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试图说服他们的公关部门
06:33
that it would be fantastic for them
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说如果他们能带我去钻油塔,
06:35
if they flew me to an oil rig
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并给我一壶油
06:37
and let me have a jug of oil.
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那简直就太好了。
06:39
BP obviously has a bit more on their mind now.
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若现在找他们,估计没人理我,因为他们现在有很多事缠身。
06:43
But even then
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但是就是当时,
06:45
they weren't convinced
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他们也没有答应我
06:47
and said, "Okay, we'll phone you back" -- never did.
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他们说,“好的,我们会给你回电话。”-- 从来没回过。
06:50
So I looked at other ways of making plastic.
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所以我就看了其他做塑料的方法。
06:53
And you can actually make plastic
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后来发现,我们除了
06:55
from obviously oils which come from plants, but also from starches.
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用由植物演变的石油可以提炼之外,用淀粉也行。
06:58
So this is attempting to make
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这就是我尝试着做
07:00
potato starch plastic.
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土豆淀粉塑料。
07:02
And for a while that was looking really good.
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刚做好时,它看上去很棒。
07:04
I poured it into the mold, which you can see there,
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正如你们所见,我把它倒进了模子
07:06
which I've made from a tree trunk.
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这模子是用我树干做的
07:08
And it was looking good for a while,
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这东西刚出来时,看上去很好,
07:10
but I left it outside, because you had to leave it outside to dry,
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因为需要晒干,所以我把它放在了外面,
07:13
and unfortunately I came back
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但不幸的是,我再出来看的时候
07:15
and there were snails eating the unhydrolyzed bits of potato.
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我发现有蜗牛正在吃那些未水解的土豆。
07:19
So kind of out of desperation,
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失望之余
07:22
I decided that I could think laterally.
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我决定来点创新。
07:25
And geologists have actually christened --
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地质学家已经将这个时代命名为--
07:27
well, they're debating whether to christen --
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事实上,他们正在争论
07:29
the age that we're living in --
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是否要命名--
07:31
they're debating whether to make it a new geological epoch
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是否需要取一个新的地质纪元名称
07:34
called the Anthropocene, the age of Man.
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叫做“人类世”, 一个属于人类的时代。
07:37
And that's because geologists of the future
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这样做是因为未来的地质学家
07:39
would kind of see a sharp shift
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可能会在由我们现在埋下的岩层中
07:41
in the strata of rock that is being laid down now.
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发现明显的转变。
07:43
So suddenly, it will become kind of radioactive from Chernobyl
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突然间,它会有像切尔诺贝利核电那样的放射污染
07:46
and the 2,000 or so nuclear bombs
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或者是从1945年开始到现在
07:48
that have been set off since 1945.
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引爆的2000个左右的核炸弹那样的危害。
07:52
And there'd also be an extinction event --
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这可能会是一个毁灭性的灾难---
07:55
like fossils would suddenly disappear.
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就像化石可能突然消失一样。
07:58
And also, I thought
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所以,我认为
08:00
that there would be
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应该会有
08:02
synthetic polymers,
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人造聚合体和
08:04
plastics, embedded in the rock.
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塑料元素夹杂在岩层中。
08:06
So I looked up a plastic --
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所以我查阅了一种塑料--
08:08
so I decided that I could mine
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我决定去开采一下
08:10
some of this modern-day rock.
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一些现代岩石。
08:12
And I went up to Manchester
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我去了曼彻斯特
08:14
to visit a place called Axion Recycling.
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造访了一个叫Axion Recycling的地方
08:17
And they're at the sharp end of what's called the WEEE,
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那儿的人正处在一个叫WEEE项目中的最艰难的阶段,
08:20
which is this European electrical and electronic waste directive.
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WEEE是“欧洲电子电器垃圾”官方指南。
08:25
And that was brought into force
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这个项目正在实施
08:27
to try and deal with the mountain of stuff
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目的是处理堆积如山的电子垃圾
08:30
that is just being made
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这些东西一般是刚做出来
08:33
and then living for a while in our homes
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被我们买回家用一段时间
08:35
and then going to landfill.
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但他们很快就被人送去了垃圾填埋场
08:37
But this is it.
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事实就是这样
08:46
(Music)
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音乐响起
09:47
(Laughter)
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笑声一片
09:49
So there's a picture
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这儿有一副图片
09:51
of my toaster.
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是我的烤面包机
09:53
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
09:57
That's it without the case on.
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它没有壳子
10:00
And there it is on the shelves.
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这儿,它被安放在架子上
10:03
Thanks.
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谢谢
10:05
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
10:09
Bruno Giussani: I'm told you did plug it in once.
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Bruno Giussani: 我听说你有一次没有接入电源插进去?
10:11
TT: Yeah, I did plug it in.
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呃,是的,我没有把它接入进去
10:13
I don't know if you could see,
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我不知道这样你是否能看得见
10:15
but I was never able to make insulation for the wires.
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不过我一向不会做电线外的绝缘材料
10:18
Kew Gardens were insistent
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Kew 庄园的人很顽固
10:20
that I couldn't come and hack into their rubber tree.
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所以我不能去砍他们家的橡胶树来弄点绝缘材料
10:23
So the wires were uninsulated.
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所以,这些电线都是不绝缘的
10:25
So there was 240 volts
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这儿有240伏的电压
10:27
going through these homemade copper wires,
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将要通过这些自制的铜电线
10:29
homemade plug.
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通过自制的插座
10:31
And for about five seconds,
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大约五秒过后
10:33
the toaster toasted,
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烤面包机运作起来了,
10:35
but then, unfortunately,
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但是,不幸的是
10:37
the element kind of melted itself.
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这些电器元件自熔了
10:40
But I considered it a partial success, to be honest.
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不过,说实话,我仍当作这是部分成功
10:43
BG: Thomas Thwaites. TT: Thanks.
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®谢谢
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