Brian Cox: What went wrong at the Large Hadron Collider

譯者: Nengneng LI 審譯者: Adrienne Lin

Last year at TED I gave an introduction to the LHC.

去年的時候，我介紹過大型強子對撞機(LHC)

And I promised to come back and give you an update

我也應承過要在回來給大家介紹

on how that machine worked.

那些機器的運作狀況

So this is it. And for those of you that weren't there,

現在我們開始吧

the LHC is the largest scientific experiment ever attempted --

LHC是目前為止人類嘗試過的最大的科學實驗

27 kilometers in circumference.

周長27公里

Its job is to recreate the conditions

它的任務就是要重建

that were present less than a billionth of a second after the universe began,

宇宙形成後的頭十億分之一秒的那一刻

up to 600 million times a second.

一秒鐘大概重建六億次

It's nothing if not ambitious.

這是個雄心勃勃的計畫

This is the machine below Geneva.

這台機器現在在日內瓦的地下

We take the pictures of those mini-Big Bangs inside detectors.

我們照了些探測器里面的迷你大爆炸的照片

This is the one I work on. It's called the ATLAS detector --

我在這台上工作，ATLAS探測器

44 meters wide, 22 meters in diameter.

44米寬，直徑22米

Spectacular picture here of ATLAS under construction

這是興建ATLAS時的壯美圖片

so you can see the scale.

你瞧瞧介規模

On the 10th of September last year we turned the machine on for the first time.

去年9月10號我們第一次啟動LHC

And this picture was taken by ATLAS.

這張照片是ATLAD拍的

It caused immense celebration in the control room.

這張引起了控制室的狂歡

It's a picture of the first beam particle

這是首張粒子束流

going all the way around the LHC,

沿著整個LHC運動的照片

colliding with a piece of the LHC deliberately,

跟LHC盡情的碰撞

and showering particles into the detector.

把粒子射向探測器

In other words, when we saw that picture on September 10th

換句話說，當我們看到9月10號的照片時

we knew the machine worked,

我們知道這部機器真的在工作了

which is a great triumph.

這是一次偉大的勝利

I don't know whether this got the biggest cheer,

我不知道這能否得到更大的歡呼

or this, when someone went onto Google

或是這個，有人上googel的時候

and saw the front page was like that.

看到這張首頁圖片

It means we made cultural impact

這說明了我們的文化影響力

as well as scientific impact.

和科學影響力

About a week later we had a problem with the machine,

大概一個星期後，機器出了點問題

related actually to these bits of wire here -- these gold wires.

問題出現在那些銅線上

Those wires carry 13 thousand amps

那些線可以在機器滿負荷運轉時

when the machine is working in full power.

承載1萬3千安培的電流

Now the engineers amongst you will look at them and say,

看著這些線，你們其中的一些工程師會說

"No they don't. They're small wires."

不會吧，他們只是很細的銅線啊

They can do that because

那是因為

when they are very cold they are what's called superconducting wire.

當溫度很低的的時候，他們就變身為超導線

So at minus 271 degrees,

所以在攝氏零下271度(逼近絕對零度)

colder than the space between the stars,

比星際還要冷

those wires can take that current.

這時候那些線就可以承載那些電流

In one of the joints between over 9,000 magnets in LHC,

在LHC里九千多個磁鐵的其中一個結合處

there was a manufacturing defect.

會有製成不良

So the wire heated up slightly,

所以這些線就會被加熱小小

and its 13,000 amps suddenly encountered electrical resistance.

那1萬3千安培就突然遭遇電阻

This was the result.

結果就是這樣

Now that's more impressive

更厲害的是

when you consider those magnets weigh over 20 tons,

你想像重達20頓的磁鐵

and they moved about a foot.

被移動了大概一英尺

So we damaged about 50 of the magnets.

我們損耗了大概50塊磁鐵

We had to take them out, which we did.

我們得把這些大傢伙拿出來，而且我們做到了

We reconditioned them all, fixed them.

我們重新調整，修復這些磁鐵

They're all on their way back underground now.

現在他們不歸位就在要歸位的路上了

By the end of March the LHC will be intact again.

3月底，LHC就能修好了

We will switch it on,

我們將重新啟動

and we expect to take data in June or July,

期待6月或7月，我們可以採集數據

and continue with our quest to find out

繼續去尋覓

what the building blocks of the universe are.

到底什麽是構成我們整個宇宙的最小單位

Now of course, in a way

當然，從某種角度來說

those accidents reignite the debate

這次事件又激起了關於

about the value of science and engineering at the edge. It's easy to refute.

邊緣科學工程的價值問題的討論，這很容易反駁

I think that the fact that it's so difficult,

我想事實就是，這是很艱難的

the fact that we're overreaching, is the value of things like the LHC.

我們所超越的，就是像LHC的價值

I will leave the final word to an English scientist, Humphrey Davy,

最後，我引用一句英國科學家Humphrey Davy說的話

who, I suspect,

好像是

when defending his protege's useless experiments --

當他為他學生的無用實驗辯護時

his protege was Michael Faraday --

他的學生是Michael Faraday

said this, "Nothing is so dangerous

他是這麼說的: 在人類思想史的進化上

to the progress of the human mind

沒什麼比以下觀點更危險的:

than to assume that our views of science are ultimate,

假設我們的觀點已經是終極知識

that there are no mysteries in nature,

或者自然界已經沒有秘密

that our triumphs are complete, and that

或者我們完全勝利了

there are no new worlds to conquer."

或者沒什麽新世界可讓我們征服的

Thank you.

謝謝

(Applause)

(觀眾鼓掌)