Placeholder Image

字幕列表 影片播放

  • The fundamental currency of our Universe is energy.

    我們宇宙的基礎貨幣是能量

  • It lights our homes,

    能量可以點亮我們的家、

  • grows our food,

    生長食物、

  • powers our computers.

    讓我們的電腦運作。

  • We can get it lots of ways:

    有很多有很多方式可以獲得能量:

  • burning fossil fuels,

    燃燒化石燃料、

  • splitting atoms

    分裂原子

  • or sunlight striking photovoltaics.

    或是太陽能發電。

  • But there's a downside to everything.

    但每種方法都有缺點。

  • Fossil fuels are extremely toxic,

    化石燃料會極度汙染

  • nuclear waste is... well, nuclear waste,

    核廢料…嗯,就是核廢料

  • and there are not enough batteries to store sunlight for cloudy days yet.

    而且,現在還沒有足夠的電池可以儲存足夠的陽光給陰天的時候用呢。

  • And yet, the Sun seems to have virtually limitless, free energy.

    然而,太陽似乎有幾乎無限的免費能量

  • Is there a way we could build a sun on Earth?

    有沒有辦法在地球上製造一顆太陽呢?

  • Can we bottle a star?

    我們能否把星星裝進瓶子裡?

  • The Sun shines beacuse of nuclear fusion.

    太陽的光來自核融合。

  • In a nutshell - fusion is a thermonuclear process,

    簡而言之,核融合是一種熱核融合反應

  • meaning that the ingredients have to be incredibly hot, so hot,

    這意味著材料一定要熱得不得了

  • that the atoms are stripped of their electrons,

    熱到讓原子上的電子離家出走

  • making a plasma where nuclei and electrons

    他們就變成電漿了,在電漿裡原子核和電子

  • bounce around freely.

    會自由地彈跳。

  • Since nuclei are all positively charged, they repell each other.

    由於原子核都帶正電,它們之間會相互排斥。

  • In order to overcome this repulsion

    要克服這個斥力

  • the particles have to be going very, very fast.

    該粒子必須動的非常非常快。

  • In this context, very fast means very hot:

    在這種情況下,非常快的意思是「非常熱」:

  • millions of degrees.

    好幾百萬度。

  • Stars cheat to reach these temperatures.

    星星會作弊來達到這些溫度。

  • They are so massive, that the pressure in their cores

    他們是如此龐大,在他們核心裡的壓力

  • generates the heat to squeeze the nuclei together

    產生的熱會把原子核擠成一團

  • until they merge and fuse,

    然後他們就融合在一起了

  • creating heavier nuclei and releasing energy in the process.

    這樣會創造出較重的原子核,並在過程中釋放能量。

  • It is this energy release

    正是這種能量的釋放

  • that scientists hope to harness

    科學家想要採集的

  • in a new generation of power plant:

    就在新型的發電廠

  • the fusion reactor.

    也就是核融合反應爐裡。

  • On Earth, it's not feasible to use this brute-force method

    在地球上,像太陽一樣使用暴力來產生融合

  • to create fusion.

    是不可行的。

  • So if we want to build a reactor that generates energy from fusion,

    因此,如果我們想建立從核融合產生能量的反應爐,

  • we have to get clever.

    我們就要略施小計。

  • To date, scientists have invented two ways of making plasmas

    迄今為止,科學家已經發明了兩種使電漿

  • hot enough to fuse:

    熱到足以產生融合的方式:

  • The first type of reactor uses a magnetic field

    第一類型的反應爐的使用磁場來

  • to squeeze a plasma in a donut-shaped chamber

    把電漿擠壓在甜甜圈形狀的空間裡

  • where the reactions take place.

    這裡面就會發生核反應。

  • These magnetic confinement reactors, such as the ITER reactor in France,

    這些磁力可以約束反應爐,如法國的 I.T.E.R 反應爐

  • use superconducting electromagnets cooled with liquid helium

    透過液態氦冷卻的超導體電磁鐵

  • to within a few degrees of absolute zero.

    使其溫度被降到離絕對零度不到幾度。

  • Meaning they host some of the biggest temperature gradients in the known Universe.

    這意味著裡面有已知的宇宙裡最大的溫差。

  • The second type, called inertial confinement,

    第二類被稱為「慣性約束」,

  • uses pulses from superpowered lasers

    使用超高能的雷射的脈衝

  • to heat the surface of a pellet of fuel,

    來加熱燃料丸的表面

  • imploding it,

    使其內爆,

  • briefly making the fuel hot and dense enough to fuse.

    短暫使燃料夠熱、夠密到足以產生融合。

  • In fact,

    事實上,

  • one of the most powerful lasers in the world

    世界上最強大的雷射之一

  • is used for fusion experiments

    正是用於核融合實驗,

  • at the National Ignition Facility in the US.

    它位在美國的國家點火設施。

  • These experiments and others like them around the world

    這些實驗以及其他世界各地的類似設施

  • are today just experiments.

    到目前為止都還只是實驗。

  • Scientists are still developing the technology.

    科學家們仍在開發這項科技。

  • And although they can achieve fusion,

    雖然他們可以實現融合,

  • right now, it costs more energy to do the experiment

    目前,做這實驗要花的電

  • than they produce in fusion.

    比核融合產生的電還多。

  • The technology has a long way to go

    這項科技還有很長的路要走

  • before it's commercially viable.

    在有商業價值之前。

  • And maybe it never will be.

    也許這永遠不會成功。

  • It might just be impossible to make a viable fusion reactor on Earth.

    也許在地球上建造一個可行的核融合反應爐是不可能的。

  • But, if it gets there it will be so efficient,

    但如果我們做到了,它的效能會非常高

  • that a single glass of sea water

    比起一杯海水

  • could be used to produce as much energy as burning a barrel of oil,

    就可以產生跟一桶油一樣多的能量,

  • with no waste to speak of.

    而且不會產生廢氣。

  • This is because fusion reactors would use hydrogen or helium as fuel,

    這是因為核融合反應爐會使用氫或氦作為燃料,

  • and sea water is loaded with hydrogen.

    而海水有滿滿的氫。

  • But not just any hydrogen will do:

    但不是任何的氫都可以用:

  • specific isotopes with extra neutrons, called deuterium and tritium,

    必須使用具備額外中子的氫同位素,就是所謂的氘和氚

  • are needed to make the right reactions.

    才能產生正確的反應。

  • Deuterium is stable and can be found in abundance in sea water,

    氘是穩定的,在海水裡就可以找到很多,

  • though, tritium is a bit trickier.

    不過氚有點難對付。

  • It's radioactive and there may only be twenty kilograms

    它有放射性並且可能只有20公斤的氚

  • of it in the world, mostly in nuclear warheads

    在世界各地,大多在核彈頭裡

  • which makes it incredibly expensive.

    所以它非常昂貴。

  • So, we may need another fusion body for deuterium instead of tritium.

    因此,我們需要氘的核融合好友,而不用氚。

  • Helium-3, an isotope of helium, might be a great substitute.

    而是用氦的同位素,氦-3 它可能是一個很棒的替代品。

  • Unfortunately,

    不幸的是,

  • it's also incedibly rare on Earth.

    它在地球上極其稀少。

  • But here the Moon might have the answer.

    但在月球這裡可能有答案。

  • Over billions of years,

    幾十億年間,

  • the solar wind may have built up huge deposits

    太陽風可能已經堆滿了

  • of helium-3 on the moon.

    大量的氦-3 在月球上。

  • Instead of making helium-3, we can mine it.

    我們不用親自生產氦-3,我們可以去挖掘它。

  • If we can sift the lunar dust for helium,

    如果我們可以把月球塵埃過篩尋找氦,

  • we'd have enough fuel to power the entire world

    那我們就會有足夠的燃料讓全世界

  • for thousands of years.

    使用幾千年。

  • One more argument for establishing a moon base,

    這是建立月球基地的又一個理由,

  • if you weren't convinced already.

    如果你不支持月球基地的話。

  • Okay, maybe you think building a mini sun

    好吧,也許你認為製造一個小型太陽

  • still sounds kind of dangerous.

    聽起來有點危險。

  • But they'd actually be much safer than most other types of power plant.

    但他們實際上比大多數其他類型的發電廠更安全。

  • A fusion reactor is not like a nuclear plant

    核融合反應爐並不像普通的核電廠,

  • which can melt down catastrophically.

    它不會災難性的融解。

  • If the confinement failed,

    如果約束失敗了,

  • then the plasma would expand and cool and the reaction would stop.

    那麼裡面的電漿將擴大並冷卻導致核反應停止。

  • Put simply, it's not a bomb.

    簡單地說,它不會變成炸彈。

  • The release of radioactive fuel like tritium

    放射性燃料的釋放,比如說氚

  • could pose a threat to the environment.

    可能對環境造成威脅。

  • Tritium could bond with oxygen, making radioactive water

    氚可以與和氧結合,產生有放射性的水

  • which could be dangerous as it seeps into the environment.

    這可能是危險的,因為它會滲透到環境裡。

  • Fortunately, there's no more than a few grams of tritium

    幸運的是,我們不會超過幾公克

  • in use at a given time,

    每次使用的量,

  • so a leak would be quickly diluted.

    所以洩漏物很快會被稀釋掉。

  • So we've just told you

    所以,我們剛告訴你

  • that there's nearly unlimited energy to be had,

    世界上有幾乎無限的能量

  • at no expense to the environment

    又不必犧牲環境

  • in something as simple as water.

    就存在在水裡。

  • So, what's the catch?

    那麼,我們為什麼不用?

  • Cost.

    答案是成本。

  • We simply don't know if fusion power will ever be commercially viable.

    我們根本不知道核融合有沒有商業價值。

  • Even if they work, they might be too expensive to ever build.

    即使有可能建造,它們可能貴到蓋不出來。

  • The main drawback is that it's unproven technology.

    它的主要缺點是,它是未經驗證的技術。

  • It's a ten billion dollar gamble.

    它是百億美元的豪賭。

  • And that money might be better spent on other clean energy

    而這些錢用在其他已經證實可行的乾淨能源上

  • that's already proven itself.

    可能會更好。

  • Maybe we should cut our losses.

    也許我們應該現在收手不幹。

  • Or maybe,

    又或許,

  • when the payoff is unlimited, clean energy for everyone,

    當成果可以讓每個人 享有無限乾淨能源時,

  • it might be worth a risk?

    這可能是值得冒險的?

The fundamental currency of our Universe is energy.

我們宇宙的基礎貨幣是能量

字幕與單字

單字即點即查 點擊單字可以查詢單字解釋