Name: 【TED-ED】電商詞彙--詹姆斯-謝爾斯 (【TED-Ed】Electric vocabulary - James Sheils)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T05:19:30.000Z
Duration: 6 min 57 s

I'm going to try to shine a historical light on our language,

我想試著在我們語言裡 點亮歷史的光輝，

and tell you a story about the electric vocabulary.

並告訴你一些 關於電子學用語的歷史。

這一切要從兩千六百年前說起。

An ancient Greek, called Thales of Miletus,

一位被稱作「米利都的泰勒斯」 （Thales of Miletus）的古希臘人

is thought to be the first person to observe

被認為是觀察到今日所稱「電子現象」 的第一人。

what we would today call electrical phenomena.

He discovered that a piece of amber, when rubbed with fur,

In Thales' language, amber was called electron.

在泰勒斯的語言裡，琥珀就叫作 electron。

For a long time, that was pretty much all anybody knew about the subject.

有好一段時間， 這些就是人類所了解的電子學了。

And nature had to wait around 2,200 years

而這世界一直等了兩千兩百多年

才對琥珀的性質 有更進一步的了解。

William Gilbert, a 17th century English scientist,

十七世紀的 英國科學家吉爾伯特（William Gilbert）

discovered that with a careful experimentation,

a number of other materials could display the attractive properties

許多材質也會有 琥珀那樣的吸引現象。

He also found that they could attract objects besides straw.

他同時發現會被吸引的物質 不只有稻草。

大約又過了四十年後， 在諾里奇附近，

Sir Thomas Browne carried out some more experiments.

布朗爵士（Sir Thomas Browne） 又做了許多實驗。

He didn't figure out anything different from William Gilbert,

他沒有研究出任何 和吉爾伯特結論不同的東西，

The way he saw it, when you rub, say, a crystal with a cloth,

在他的說法裡， 比如說你用布摩擦水晶，

and say they possess the property of elasticity,

electric objects possess the property of electricity.

我們會說 帶物體擁有「電」的特性。

Charles du Fay was the next person to make an important new discovery.

杜費（Charles du Fay） 是下一位有重大發現的人。

He found that almost any object, except for metals and fluids,

他發現除了金屬和液體 幾乎所有物體

after subjecting them to a combination of heating and rubbing.

只要經過適當的加熱與摩擦 就能達成。

In addition, he found that when two electrics are place near each other,

此外，他發現當 兩個帶電物體放在一起，

they sometimes attract and sometimes repel.

它們有時候會相吸、而有時候相斥。

du Fay found that there were two distinct groups of electrics.

杜費發現帶電物體 可以分為兩類。

du Fay's descriptions of the physics are all lost to history.

杜費對物理的描述 則都隨著歷史消逝了。

Instead, it is the vocabulary of a charismatic young American

相反地，反倒是一位有魅力的 美國年輕人

that we still remember and use to this day.

他的說法一直流傳、 並沿用至今。

Benjamin Franklin heard of the work going on in Europe

富蘭克林（Benjamin Franklin） 聽到了歐州的這些研究，

He quickly learned how to make electric devices

他很快地學會怎樣製造一種 會在放電時

that would de-electrify by producing very large sparks.

Franklin would often shock his friends with these machines.

富蘭克林時常用這些裝置 來嚇他的朋友們。

他把帶電和放電的過程 比喻成軍火在填充和射擊。

and de-electrifying to charging and discharging weaponry.

他把帶電和放電的過程 比喻成軍火在「填充」和「射擊」。

It didn't take long for Franklin and others to realize

富蘭克林和一些人 並沒有花太長的時間

that it was possible to link these weapons of mischief together.

就發現這些軍火可以聯結在一起。

likened this grouping to cannons on a ship.

把這整套比喻成船上的眾多大砲。

fired their cannons simultaneously, in a battery

This new technology raised an interesting question:

這項新的技術帶來了 一個有趣的問題：

Was a lightning cloud just a large electrical battery?

發閃電的烏雲會不會 就是個很大的電能砲組？

Franklin's description of all this was as follows:

富蘭克林對 這整個現象的解釋是這樣：

he called the "electrical fluid" that is common to all things.

「電流質」（electrical fluid）， 而這物質在各物體上都很常見。

比如說當一個人摩擦玻璃試管時，

this rubbing, or charging, causes a flow of this fluid,

這就相當於在填充軍火， 會造成電流質的流動，

or an electrical current, to move from the person to the glass.

或者說會造成 從人流往玻璃的電流。

Both the person and the tube become "electrics" as a result.

結果導致人和試管 都變成帶電的。

Normally, if the person was standing on the ground,

一般來說， 如果人站在地板上，

their electrical fluid would return to normal,

那身上的電流質就會回歸正常，

with an exchange from the common stock of the Earth,

因為人體的電流質會和 地球本身的「貯存」流通，

Franklin said that an object with an excess of this fluid

and something lacking this fluid was negatively charged.

而有過少電流質的物體 則叫作帶負電。

When objects touch, or are near each other,

當物體相接觸、 或至少很接近時，

the electrical fluid can flow between them

電流質就可以在 兩者之間流動，

The bigger the difference in the fluid between the two objects,

和平衡點的差距愈大， 那電流質就可以彈跳愈遠，

the larger the distance the fluid can jump,

that determines if it gains or loses electrical fluid

決定了它在帶電的過程中 是增加還減少電流質。

These are du Fay's two groups of electrics.

而這就是杜費口中的 那兩類帶電體。

You might have heard the phrase, "Opposite charges attract,

富蘭克林的理論其後 變成許多想法和發現的基礎，