Name: 愛因斯坦的百年預言！人類史上最瘋狂的實驗 (The Craziest Experiment Humans Have Ever Built)
Uploaded: 2026-02-26T09:32:28.000Z
Duration: 18 min

Right here, out in the middle of the desert, miles from any city, are huge concrete tubes that are part of a giant machine running the most precise experiment humans have ever built.

在這片荒漠之中，離任何城市數英里遠的地方，有著巨大的混凝土管道，它們是人類建造過最精密的實驗機器的部分。

This experiment is happening inside two tubes, each 4km long.

這個實驗發生在兩條管道裡，每條長4公里。

And inside each tube, there's a big metal pipe.

並且在每條管道裡，都有一個大金屬管。

And at the end of each pipe, scientists place some of the smoothest mirrors ever made.

在每條管道的末端，科學家們放置了一些製作過最光滑的鏡子。

And then they fire a powerful laser that gets split down each tube, bouncing back and forth and back and forth, building up power until they bring those beams back together to detect something that just 100 years ago, scientists said was impossible to find.

然後他們發射一道強大的雷射，這道雷射會被抽成兩束，沿著每條管道來回反射，累積能量，直到他們將這兩束光束重新匯聚，以偵測一個在100年前，科學家們還說不可能找到的東西。

Finding it took hundreds of scientists and over a billion dollars.

找到它，花費了數百名科學家和超過十億美元。

And what's the cutting edge we're finding now that makes those same scientists want to build an even bigger one?

而現在我們正在發現的尖端是什麼，讓那些科學家們想要建造一個更大的？

Right now I'm here in the control room of this giant machine.

現在我正身處在這個巨大機器的控制室裡。

This machine is known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, or just ligo.

這臺機器就是大家熟知的 Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory，簡稱 ligo。

The reason this machine is such a big deal is that up until now, for all of human history, everything that we know about the cosmos has been from waves of light and particles that just happen to come our way.

這臺機器之所以這麼重要，是因為在人類歷史上，我們對宇宙的瞭解，一直都只限於那些恰好傳遞過來的光波和粒子。

But it turns out there are other ways to sense our universe.

但事實證明，還有其他方式可以感知我們的宇宙。

Imagine that you're in a jungle and you can only see.

想像一下，你身處叢林，只能用眼睛看。

Think about what you know, about what's around you.

你知道周遭有什麼，你對周遭的瞭解。

Now, with this machine, it's like all of a sudden, we can suddenly hear.

現在，有了這臺機器，就像突然之間，我們突然能聽見了。

Think about what you know now about what's around you.

That's why LIGO was built, to create a way to hear our universe.

這就是為什麼 LIGO 被建造出來，是為了創造一種聽見我們宇宙的方式。

And with this machine, our hearing is getting better fast.

而有了這臺機器，我們的聽力正快速進步。

It's as though a few years ago, we could only hear the universe yelling.

就像幾年前，我們只能聽見宇宙在怒吼一樣。

But when scientists started building this machine back in the it was thought of as high risk, high reward, because it was all based on a prediction made by Albert Einstein 75 years before.

但科學家們在建造這臺機器時，這被認為是高風險高報酬的，因為這一切都基於愛因斯坦 75 年前的預測。

Imagine for a second that two enormous stars a hundred light years away from us collide.

想像一下，兩顆距離我們一百光年的巨大恆星碰撞。

But Einstein predicted that massive things warp space and time around them.

但愛因斯坦預測，巨大的物體會扭曲周圍的空間和時間。

When these two massive stars collide, Einstein said that not only do they produce an explosion of light, but

愛因斯坦說，當這兩顆巨大的恆星碰撞時，它們不僅會產生爆炸性的光芒，而且

they make ripples that stretch and squeeze Space and time.

它們會產生漣漪，扭曲並壓縮空間和時間。

And those ripples move outward like a wave, a gravity wave, a gravitational wave.

而這些漣漪會像波一樣向外傳播，這就是重力波。

And Einstein predicted that these gravitational waves travel at the same speed as light.

愛因斯坦預測，這些重力波會以光速傳播。

So after 100 years, that light from that collision hits us, and so do these waves.

所以，一百年後，碰撞產生的光線傳到了我們這裡，這些波也一樣。

It implies that everything we know, you, me, the space between us, all of reality as we know it, is getting stretched and squeezed, and

這意味著我們所知道的一切，你、我、我們之間的空間，我們所認知的整個現實，都在被扭曲和壓縮，

But a hundred years ago, this was all just a theory.

但一百年前，這一切都還只是個理論。

Most physicists believe that even if Einstein were right, it would be too hard to actually prove.

大多數物理學家認為，即使愛因斯坦說對了，要證實這點也會太難了。

That's because based on Einstein's predictions, this stretch or squeeze would be 10,000 times smaller than the size of a proton.

這就好像愛因斯坦預測的那樣，這種拉伸或壓縮會比質子小一萬倍。

To put that into perspective, trying to measure that is like trying to measure the distance from here to the nearest star four light years away.

打個比方，要測量這個，就像是要測量從這裡到最近的恆星四光年那麼遠的距離。

And watching that distance change by the width of a human hair.

然後看著這個距離變化了頭髮那麼寬。

That's why we had to build this insane machine.

這就是為什麼我們必須建造這臺瘋狂的機器。

But if everything is getting stretched and squeezed, including your measuring stick, how would you get an accurate result?

但如果所有東西都在被拉伸和壓縮，包括你的測量尺，你怎麼能得到準確的結果呢？

Turns out the measuring stick and this are the key.

結果發現，測量尺和這個東西是關鍵。

Because what if you use something that we know has a constant speed, right?

因為如果你用一個我們知道速度恆定的東西呢？

Like light, and you shoot it down your measuring stick?

就像光一樣，然後你把它射向你的測量尺？

You could calculate how long it takes the light to go down and bounce back.

你可以計算光線來回所需的時間。

So if the distance changes, the time the light would take would change, too.

所以如果距離改變，光線所需的時間也會改變。

That would work in principle, but actually doing this is insanely hard.

原則上可行，但實際上做到這點難度爆表。

I'm walking around next to ligo's measuring sticks right now.

我現在就在 ligo 的測量尺旁邊走動。

The way this works is laser light is sent out here and then splits into two, speeding down these identical arms, then hits mirrors at the end and gets reflected back.

它的運作方式是雷射光在這裡發射，然後抽成兩束，沿著這兩條相同的臂前進，然後撞擊末端的鏡子並反射回來。

Now, normally, the arms are perfectly aligned so that the waves of light cancel each other out, resulting in no light hitting the detectors.

現在，通常情況下，手臂是完美對齊的，這樣光波就會互相抵消，導致沒有光線到達偵測器。

But if that mysterious stretchy squeezy wave comes through, it would change the length of the arms, shift the laser beams ever so slightly, and

但如果那個神祕的伸縮波出現，它會改變手臂的長度，讓雷射光束稍微偏移，然後

on the detector, you should see a flicker.

你就會在偵測器上看到一個閃爍。

The longer the measuring stick, the easier to measure the change, except the harder to build it in the first place.

測量尺越長，就越容易測量變化，但一開始建造起來也就越困難。

So long they need to correct for the curve of the Earth.

The curvature of the Earth is such that, you know, if we launch the light from the corner station at the ends, the fall off of the curvatures of the Earth is about 4ft.

地球的曲率是這樣的，你知道，如果我們從末端的角落站發射光線，地球曲率的下降大約是 4 英尺。

And inside the beam pipe is 10,000 cubic meters of nothing.

而束管裡面是 10,000 立方公尺的真空。

And when I say nothing, I mean there are fewer particles in there than the International Space Station flies through because they sucked them all out.

我說的真空，是指裡面粒子比國際太空站飛過的粒子還少，因為他們把所有粒子都抽掉了。

And the reason they did that is to make sure the only thing in there is the laser.

他們這樣做的原因，是為了確保裡面只有雷射。

We're going off to this clean room space, so we have several different layers to protect ourselves.

我們現在要進到這個無塵室空間，所以我們有好幾層的防護。

That's the good thing about $700 glasses.

這就是一副 700 美金眼鏡的好處。

Because the laser that we use is invisible.

因為我們用的雷射是看不見的。

And if it hits you in the eye, you're not.

如果它打到你的眼睛，你就不會。

And you can start hearing popping first, which is your blood vessels popping before your field of vision goes cloudy.

你可能會先聽到爆裂聲，那是你的血管在爆裂，然後你的視線才會變得模糊。

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愛因斯坦的百年預言！人類史上最瘋狂的實驗 (The Craziest Experiment Humans Have Ever Built)

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