Hmm, another day at the Kurzgesagt Labs, where we answer the most important questions with science.

嗯，又是在庫爾茲格薩特實驗室的一天，我們在這裡用科學回答最重要的問題。

Today, how might civilizations wage war across light-years?

今天，不同文明如何跨越光年發動戰爭？

What kind of devastating weapons could they use, and what would they look like?

他們能使用什麼樣的毀滅性武器？

Meet our two players, a yellow dwarf star system home to a species of primates.

讓我們來認識一下我們的兩位玩家--一個居住著靈長類動物的黃矮星系統。

Humans, as they call themselves, recently became a technological civilization.

人類自稱為 "人類"，最近才成為科技文明。

They have rockets, nuclear reactors, and memes.

他們有火箭、核反應堆和備忘錄。

How cute!

真可愛

The Smorpians disagree.

斯莫皮人不同意。

They reside on a planet around the orange dwarf star HD 40307, 42 light-years away.

它們居住在 42 光年外的橙色矮星 HD 40307 周圍的一顆行星上。

Smorpian civilization developed earlier than humans, and they have much better technology.

斯莫比文明比人類發展得更早，他們擁有更好的技術。

They've recently built a Dyson swarm around their star, which gives them near-limitless energy.

它們最近在恆星周圍建造了一個戴森蜂群，這給它們提供了近乎無限的能量。

And they noticed humanity, which is unfortunate, as the Smorpians are planning a hyperspace bypass through our solar system.

他們注意到了人類，這很不幸，因為斯莫比安人正在計劃繞過我們的太陽系進入超空間。

So they decided that humanity has to go.

是以，他們決定人類必須離開。

Interstellar war is hard, though.

不過，星際戰爭很難打。

Frontlines, tactics, and logistics are meaningless at these scales.

在這種規模下，前線、戰術和後勤都毫無意義。

It's also fought across time.

這也是一場跨越時空的戰鬥。

Decades will pass between firing a weapon and learning whether it hit or not.

從發射武器到了解武器是否擊中目標，中間要經過幾十年的時間。

Sending an invasion fleet is futile.

派出入侵艦隊是徒勞的。

Even if the Smorpians travel at a large fraction of the speed of light, the journey to Earth would take decades or even centuries, and humans would have plenty of time to prepare.

即使斯莫比星人的旅行速度只有光速的一大部分，前往地球也需要幾十年甚至上百年的時間，人類有足夠的時間做好準備。

If you want to learn more about the mind-numbing problem of war between alien civilizations, we made a video about it.

如果你想進一步瞭解外星文明之間令人頭疼的戰爭問題，我們製作了一段相關視頻。

Today, we'll help the Smorpians construct a weapon that is not only extremely long-range and as fast as physically possible, but that will totally destroy everything on Earth.

今天，我們將幫助斯摩爾人建造一種武器，這種武器不僅射程極遠，而且速度極快，可以徹底摧毀地球上的一切。

So, no human survivors will come to enact vengeance on Smorp in the future.

所以，今後不會再有人類倖存者來向斯莫普復仇了。

In Interstellar War, you want to win with one shot.

在《星際戰爭》中，你要一擊制勝。

Our bird scientists have found three Smorpian designs.

我們的鳥類科學家發現了三種斯莫潘設計。

The Star Laser, the Relativistic Missile, and the Ultra-Relativistic Electron Beam.

星際脈衝光、相對論飛彈和超相對論電子束。

All based on real technologies that humans are using in some form already.

所有這些都基於人類已經在以某種形式使用的真實技術。

Let's see how they work.

讓我們看看它們是如何工作的。

The Star Laser.

星際脈衝光

As an advanced technological civilization, the Smorpians harness the energy of their star by surrounding it with billions of solar power satellites.

作為一個先進的科技文明，斯摩爾人通過數十億顆太陽能衛星環繞恆星，利用恆星的能量。

This Dyson Swarm collects 1% of the star's energy output, a million, billion, billion watts, 50 billion times more than all humanity generates.

這個戴森蜂群收集了恆星能量輸出的 1%，一百萬、十億、百億瓦特，比全人類產生的能量多 500 億倍。

What if all the power of the Dyson Swarm, all those satellites, were used to create a Star Laser?

如果利用戴森蜂群的所有能量、所有這些衛星來製造星際激光器呢？

Like any laser, the bigger it is, the longer its range.

與其他激光器一樣，激光器越大，射程就越遠。

Human-built lasers use small mirrors to focus, so they have short ranges.

人類製造的激光器使用小鏡子聚焦，是以射程很短。

The Smorpians could turn their entire Dyson Swarm into a collective focusing element a million kilometers wide.

斯摩爾人可以把整個戴森蜂群變成一個寬達一百萬公里的集體聚焦元素。

The Star Laser has an insane range as a result, enough to focus on target Earth from a distance of over 2 million light-years.

是以，"星際脈衝光 "的射程非常遠，足以在 200 多萬光年的距離上對準目標地球。

Okay, let's shoot it.

好吧，我們開槍吧

Countless tiny beams combine into a single huge beam.

無數細小的光束匯聚成一道巨大的光束。

Laser beams are normally invisible in space, but the Star Laser is so powerful that light scattering off bits of dust and gas in its path makes it clearly visible in the sky.

激光束在太空中通常是看不見的，但星際激光器的功率非常強大，其路徑上的塵埃和氣體散射出的光線使其在天空中清晰可見。

A gigantic column of green light.

巨大的綠色光柱

The laser travels at the speed of light, which, oddly enough, is still pretty slow on a galactic level.

脈衝光以光速傳播，但奇怪的是，這在銀河系層面上仍然非常緩慢。

It takes a whole day until the laser has left the Smorpian system, shooting into the emptiness between stars.

直到脈衝光離開斯莫潘星系，射向恆星之間的虛空，這需要一整天的時間。

It will travel for decades, occasionally melting the odd bit of interstellar dust or asteroid.

它將旅行數十年，偶爾會融化零星的星際塵埃或小行星。

Forty-two years after being fired, it arrives without warning.

在被解僱 42 年後，它毫無徵兆地到來了。

Humans only notice a weird green glow in the sky, and then they're gone. 1% of the energy of a star concentrated into a beam the diameter of Earth traveling 42 light-years.

人類只注意到天空中一道詭異的綠光，然後它們就消失了。一顆恆星 1%的能量濃縮成一束地球直徑的光束，傳播 42 光年。

It burns the exposed half of the planet with the intensity of 3 million suns.

它以 300 萬個太陽的強度灼燒地球裸露的一半。

The seas boil and evaporate, fires scour the land, and within minutes, Earth's crust begins to melt into a sea of lava.

海水沸騰蒸發，大火席捲大地，幾分鐘之內，地殼開始融化，變成一片熔岩海。

As the planet rotates, it turns into a red, hot hell with no trace of life.

隨著行星的旋轉，它變成了一個紅色、炙熱的地獄，沒有任何生命的痕跡。

After a day, it's all over, and the laser dies down.

一天後，一切都會結束，脈衝光也會消失。

In another 42 years, the Smorpians will know if they've been successful.

再過 42 年，斯莫皮人就會知道他們是否成功了。

That's another thing about interstellar war.

這就是星際戰爭的另一個特點。

When you attack, your grandchildren will be the ones to find out if you won.

當你進攻時，你的孫子們就會知道你是否贏了。

It's like all the bombs from World War II exploding in the 80s, and us only seeing the effect today.

這就好比第二次世界大戰的所有炸彈在 80 年代爆炸，而我們今天才看到其影響。

Okay, the star laser's extreme range, speed of light attack, and ability to melt down any target make it a premier interstellar weapon.

好吧，星際脈衝光的超遠射程、光速攻擊和熔化任何目標的能力，使它成為星際武器中的佼佼者。

But is there something else?

但是否還有其他原因？

What if, instead of converting the energy of their Dyson swarm into a laser, the Smorpians used it to shoot a super bullet?

如果斯摩爾人不把戴森蜂群的能量轉化為脈衝光，而是用來發射超級子彈呢？

A relativistic missile going as close to the speed of light as possible.

相對論飛彈儘可能接近光速。

This sort of weapon is at the limits of what the Smorpians' technology can handle, as it requires loads of a highly dangerous material, antimatter, the evil twin of regular matter.

這種武器已經達到了斯蠍人的技術極限，因為它需要大量非常危險的材料--反物質，普通物質的邪惡孿生兄弟。

Humans have only managed to produce a few nanograms of antimatter.

人類只設法生產了幾毫微克的反物質。

With their unlimited energy, Smorpians can manufacture it at an industrial scale to build antimatter rockets.

斯摩爾人擁有無限的能量，可以以工業規模製造反物質火箭。

When antimatter and matter are mixed, they annihilate, which in more practical terms means there's a big, big boom releasing gamma rays and plasma.

當反物質和物質混合時，它們會發生湮滅，用更實際的術語來說，這意味著會發生巨大的爆炸，釋放出伽馬射線和等離子體。

The physics is complicated, but basically, if you have a really strong magnetic field, you can deflect the plasma through a nozzle just like in the chemical rockets humans use.

物理原理很複雜，但基本上，如果你有一個非常強大的磁場，你就可以通過一個噴嘴使等離子體偏轉，就像人類使用的化學火箭一樣。

But it would be much, much faster.

但速度會快很多很多。

The fastest rocket possibly, basically.

基本上，可能是最快的火箭了。

Our relativistic missile is much bigger than a skyscraper.

我們的相對論飛彈比摩天大樓大得多。

At the bottom is the bell-shaped magnetic nozzle 100 meters wide.

底部是寬 100 米的鐘形磁力噴嘴。

On top of it are 250 floors filled with antimatter and matter ready to annihilate each other.

在它上面有 250 層樓，充滿了反物質和物質，隨時準備相互湮滅。

On the top floor is a 300 kilogram projectile looking quite small, about the size of a person.

頂層有一個 300 公斤重的彈丸，看起來非常小，大約有一個人那麼大。

To stop them getting damaged on the way, the missiles have dozens of sacrificial layers that form a whipple shield.

為了防止飛彈在飛行途中受損，飛彈上有幾十層犧牲層，形成一個防彈盾。

To make sure they do their job, the Smorpians build 1,000 missiles.

為了確保它們完成任務，斯摩稜斯克人制造了 1000 枚飛彈。

Let's fire them.

讓我們解僱他們。

Launching all the relativistic missiles is a spectacular event.

發射所有相對論飛彈是一項壯觀的活動。

For a moment, the antimatter engines lighting up outshine their star.

剎那間，反物質引擎的亮度超過了它們的恆星。

Their exhaust is a long trail of brilliant white, and as they accelerate away, they appear redder and redder until they turn invisible.

它們排出的尾氣是一長串耀眼的白色，隨著它們加速離開，尾氣越來越紅，直到看不見為止。

With the extreme amount of energy released by the matter-antimatter reactions, the missiles are accelerated to 99.9999996% of the speed of light.

物質-反物質反應釋放出的巨大能量將飛彈加速到光速的 99.9999996%。

They have effectively infinite range as there's nothing really to slow them down.

它們的射程實際上是無限的，因為沒有任何東西可以減緩它們的速度。

They arrive shortly after you can see them.

在你能看到它們之後不久，它們就會到達。

The light from their launch will take 42 years to reach Earth, so human astronomers might see the flash of the missile's launch, and then a few days later, they'll hit.

它們發射後的光線需要 42 年才能到達地球，是以人類天文學家可能會看到飛彈發射時的閃光，然後幾天後，它們就會擊中地球。

Not enough time to prepare.

準備時間不夠。

Each relativistic missile packs the kinetic energy of a dinosaur-killer asteroid, so only one needs to hit.

每枚相對論飛彈的動能相當於一顆恐龍殺手小行星的動能，是以只需擊中一枚即可。

They never reach the ground, disintegrating instead at the edge of Earth's atmosphere.

它們從未到達地面，而是在地球大氣層邊緣解體。

Intense blue flashes set everything on fire.

強烈的藍色閃光點燃了一切。

Then continent-sized fireballs slam down on the surface to smash everything into dust, repeatedly, until nothing is left but rubble and smoke.

然後，大陸大小的火球猛烈地砸向地表，把一切都砸成灰塵，如此反覆，直到只剩下瓦礫和濃煙。

So, interstellar missiles with unlimited range, minimal warning, and delivering complete destruction of a planet's surface.

是以，星際飛彈射程無限，預警極少，可以徹底摧毀一個星球的表面。

Nice.

不錯。

But they are a hassle to build.

但建造起來很麻煩。

Is there something else, maybe?

也許還有其他原因？

The ultra-relativistic electron beam.

超相對論電子束。

Humans do funny things to their food to rid it of bacteria and make it safe to eat, like shooting electron beams at strawberries.

人類會對食物做一些有趣的事情來清除細菌，使其可以安全食用，比如向草莓發射電子束。

Small particle accelerators send electrons into the food with an energy similar to the radiation from nuclear reactions.

小型粒子加速器將電子送入食物，其能量類似於核反應產生的輻射。

Not enough to burn the food, but deadly to bacteria.

雖然不足以燒焦食物，但對細菌來說卻是致命的。

Smorpians had the same idea, but bigger.

斯莫皮恩人也有同樣的想法，但規模更大。

The main challenge with an electron beam is range.

電子束的主要挑戰在於射程。

Electrons are negatively charged particles, so they don't want to stay near each other.

電子是帶負電荷的粒子，所以它們不願意彼此靠近。

A regular electron beam will quickly spread out, making it harmless.

普通電子束會迅速散開，使其無害。

Smorpians need it to cover distances of dozens of light-years, so they've used the rules of the universe to trick the electrons by building an ultra-relativistic electron beam, or UREB.

斯摩爾人需要它來覆蓋數十光年的距離，是以他們利用宇宙規則，通過建造超相對論電子束（UREB）來欺騙電子。

What it does is accelerate the electrons to 99.9999999 99999999 9999998% of the speed of light.

它的作用是將電子加速到光速的 99.9999999999999999998%。

Phew, faster than even the most powerful cosmic rays.

呼，甚至比最強大的宇宙射線還要快。

The closer something travels to the speed of light, the slower time moves for it, relative to the rest of the universe.

越接近光速的物體，其時間相對於宇宙其他部分的移動速度就越慢。

And since these electrons are moving so incredibly fast, for every second of spreading they experience, over 5 million years pass in real time.

由於這些電子的運動速度快得令人難以置信，它們每經歷一秒鐘的傳播，就意味著超過 500 萬年的實時流逝。

A physics trick that lets the beam cross interstellar distances while remaining tightly focused on its target.

一種物理技巧能讓光束跨越星際距離，同時緊緊聚焦在目標上。

The biggest particle accelerator on Earth is 27 km long.

地球上最大的粒子加速器長達 27 公里。

The Smorpians need one that's over 100,000 km long.

斯莫比爾人需要一條超過 10 萬公里長的通道。

A megastructure 8 times longer than Earth is wide.

巨型建築的長度是地球寬度的 8 倍。

It's mostly a tube of magnets holding the beam together until the exit.

它主要是由一管磁鐵將光束固定在一起，直到出口。

Like a long trumpet of doom, surrounded by an aura of deadly radiation.

就像一個長長的末日號角，周圍環繞著致命的輻射光環。

When it's fired, it produces a ruler-straight lightning bolt pointed at Earth.

發射時，它會產生一道直尺狀閃電，直指地球。

Its effects on arrival are less visible than the other weapons.

與其他武器相比，它對抵達的影響並不明顯。

No flashes of light, no massive firestorms, no explosions.

沒有閃光，沒有大火，沒有爆炸。

It doesn't destroy rocks, it destroys DNA.

它破壞的不是岩石，而是 DNA。

People get dizzy, then fall sick as their cells are pierced by radiation.

由於細胞被輻射穿透，人們會頭暈，然後生病。

You might think that a deep bunker could save a few humans, but no.

你可能會認為，一個深掩體可以拯救幾個人類，但事實並非如此。

The Europe is so penetrating that its effects accumulate to lethal doses even underground over days or weeks.

歐洲的穿透力很強，即使在地下，其影響也會在數天或數週內累積到致命劑量。

In the end, just like our strawberries, Earth becomes sterile.

最後，就像我們的草莓一樣，地球也會變得不育。

Simulation results.

模擬結果

Hmm.

嗯

Another elaborate animated science explainer by Kurzgesagt where we've learned a lot, not sure exactly what.

這是 Kurzgesagt 製作的另一個精心製作的科學動畫解說，我們在其中學到了很多東西，但不確定具體是什麼。

Luckily, the smorpions don't really exist, but others might.

幸運的是，蠍子並不真的存在，但其他蠍子可能存在。

One major downside of all our weapons is that others around the Milky Way could see you firing them, which is not ideal because you don't want to present yourself as a dangerous species and tell everybody where exactly you are.

我們所有武器的一個主要缺點是，銀河系周圍的其他人可能會看到你發射這些武器，這並不理想，因為你不想把自己當作一個危險的物種，告訴大家你到底在哪裡。

So maybe instead of shouting or shooting out into the universe, the best course of action seems to be to stay relatively quiet for now and observe.

是以，與其大喊大叫或向宇宙開槍，最好的辦法似乎是暫時保持相對安靜，並進行觀察。

Maybe one day we'll witness distant stars shooting at each other and be glad we stayed out of it.

也許有一天，我們會目睹遙遠的星星互相射擊，並慶幸自己置身事外。