第5章 敲石头的人 The Stone-Breakers · 第6讲S5

1. 老师，Edmund Halley 那个算地球年龄的方法逻辑听起来挺美的，但为什么最后说它 'impracticable' 呢？具体是卡在哪一步了？
2. Buffon 居然用手去摸烧热的球体来估算散热速度，这也太不科学了吧？这种方法得出的 75,000 到 168,000 年的结果，跟现在公认的年龄相比，偏差是不是太大了？
3. 达尔文在《物种起源》里算出英国南部那片林地形成花了 3 亿多年，这比之前大家认为的几千万年长了那么多，为什么他后来在第三版里又把这个数据给删掉了呢？
4. Buffon 因为提出了地球年龄很长的激进观点，差点被 'excommunication'（开除教籍），这跟 'communion'（圣餐）有啥关系？当时教会为啥这么紧张？
5. 既然达尔文需要地球足够古老来支持他的进化论，而凯尔文（Lord Kelvin）后来介入却让问题变得更糟，凯尔文到底是用什么方法把地球年龄算得越来越短，从而阻碍了科学进步的？

1. Teacher, Edmund Halley's logic for calculating Earth's age sounded appealing, but why was it ultimately deemed 'impracticable'? What exactly went wrong?
2. Buffon actually used his hand to touch heated spheres to estimate heat loss? Isn't that unscientific? How does his result of 75,000 to 168,000 years compare to the current accepted age?
3. Darwin calculated that the geological processes forming that woodland in southern England took over 300 million years, which was much longer than the previously accepted tens of millions of years. Why did he later withdraw this figure in the third edition of his book?
4. Buffon was threatened with 'excommunication' for proposing that Earth was old. What's the connection between 'excommunication' and 'communion'? Why was the Church so sensitive about this?
5. Since Darwin needed Earth to be old to support evolution, and Lord Kelvin's involvement made things worse, what method did Kelvin use that led to an increasingly shorter age for Earth, thereby hindering scientific progress?

1 00:00:00,880 --> 00:00:04,120 我们整个宇宙都在热烈的态度中, 2 00:00:04,100 --> 00:00:07,660 14 亿年前的传承已经开始了。 3 00:00:08,700 --> 00:00:14,910 每个人都同意地球是古老的。 4 00:00:15,070 --> 00:00:17,910 问题是,它是多么古老? 5 00:00:41,130 --> 00:00:47,990 在判定地球年龄的早期的尝试当中有一项比较好一点 6 00:00:47,990 --> 00:00:53,610 的比从圣经里边去寻找答案更靠谱一些的来自那个一 7 00:00:53,610 --> 00:00:58,030 项都比较可靠一项都比较靠谱的 Edmund Hawley 他在 8 00:00:58,030 --> 00:01:02,790 1715 年提出 If you divided the total amount of salt in 9 00:01:02,790 --> 00:01:07,350 the world of sea 如果你把地球上所有海洋里边包含的 10 00:01:07,350 --> 00:01:12,570 盐的总量除以 the amount added each year it means the 11 00:01:12,570 --> 00:01:18,050 amount of salt added each year 除以每年所增加的盐量 12 00:01:18,050 --> 00:01:21,430 You would get the number of years that the oceans had 13 00:01:21,430 --> 00:01:27,110 been in existence 这样你就可以算出来海洋存在的年 14 00:01:27,110 --> 00:01:27,470 龄 15 00:01:28,100 --> 00:01:32,060 Which will give you a rough idea of Earth's age 虽然这并 16 00:01:32,060 --> 00:01:35,700 不是相当于地球的年龄但是它可以给你一些 rough 17 00:01:35,700 --> 00:01:39,300 idea 给你一些大致的范围 The 18 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,480 logic was appealing but unfortunately no one knew how 19 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:48,080 much salt was in the sea or by how much it increased each 20 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,360 yearwhich renders the experiment 21 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:55,320 impracticableappealing means attractive 这个逻辑 22 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,680 听起来是非常好非常有吸引力的 but unfortunately 23 00:01:59,780 --> 00:02:04,600 遗憾的是根本就没有人能够知道 how much salt was in 24 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:09,780 the sea 也就是 nobody knew the total amount of salt in 25 00:02:09,780 --> 00:02:11,440 the world's sea 也 26 00:02:11,500 --> 00:02:16,540 没有人知道 By how much it increased each year 也没有人 27 00:02:16,540 --> 00:02:21,140 知道每年增加的量是多少就是 The amount added each 28 00:02:21,140 --> 00:02:25,060 year Which rendered the experiment impredicable 29 00:02:25,060 --> 00:02:28,900 Rendered means made Which made the experiment 30 00:02:28,900 --> 00:02:34,780 impossible to carry out 这使得这个实验根本就不可能 31 00:02:34,780 --> 00:02:40,560 实施不可能操作理论上很美好实际上是不可操作的 32 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:41,300 The 33 00:02:42,460 --> 00:02:44,900 first attempt at measurement that could be called 34 00:02:44,900 --> 00:02:48,740 remotely scientific was made by the French man Georges 35 00:02:48,740 --> 00:02:50,840 Lou is Leclerc,Comme de Buff on, 36 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:58,220 in the 1770s Remotely scientific 指的是稍微算得上一 37 00:02:58,220 --> 00:03:02,320 点科学但实际上离科学还是很遥远的 38 00:03:02,980 --> 00:03:08,300 史上第一次稍微能够算得上具有科学性的测量是由这 39 00:03:08,300 --> 00:03:13,120 个法国人做出的 It had long been known that the earth 40 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,480 radiated appreciable amounts of heat That was 41 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:20,220 apparent to anyone who went down a coal mine But there 42 00:03:20,220 --> 00:03:23,520 wasn't any way of estimating the rate of dissipation 43 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,160 Radiate,do you still remember this word? 44 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:28,160 Radiate, 45 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:33,580 散发辐射出来 Appreciable means large enough to be 46 00:03:33,580 --> 00:03:35,320 noticed or to be measured 47 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:42,760 科学界很早就知道地球会向外散发出一定的热量 That 48 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:45,560 was apparent to anyone who went down a coal mine 49 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:50,880 Apparent means obvious 对于曾经下过煤矿的人这个是 50 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:55,420 很明显的他们都能够感觉到地底下散发出来的热量 51 00:03:55,420 --> 00:03:58,900 But there wasn't any way of estimating the rate of 52 00:03:58,900 --> 00:04:03,380 dissipation Dissipation 这里指的是热量的散发散逸 53 00:04:03,380 --> 00:04:08,640 的这个 rate 散逸的速度看一下更多的例句 Dissipate 54 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,600 As he thought it over, 55 00:04:10,740 --> 00:04:14,980 his anger gradually dissipated 他想了想, 56 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,440 怒气就渐渐消了 Little by little, 57 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:23,620 the smoke was dissipated by the breeze 微风慢慢地把烟 58 00:04:23,620 --> 00:04:25,460 雾吹散了那 59 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:32,220 大家都知道这个道理问题是根本就没有办法算出这个 60 00:04:32,220 --> 00:04:33,980 地热的散异率 61 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:54,560 那这个布丰的实验呢是这样的他先把球体加热一直 62 00:04:54,560 --> 00:05:00,760 加热到白热的程度然后在 estimating the rate of heat 63 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:06,380 loss by touching them 再用触摸的方式来估计热的散异 64 00:05:06,380 --> 00:05:06,640 率 65 00:05:07,190 --> 00:05:11,330 真是难以想象竟然是用手去摸的这种方式而不是用任 66 00:05:11,330 --> 00:05:16,010 何仪器去测量当时就只有这个条件 presumably very 67 00:05:16,010 --> 00:05:20,710 lightly at firstpresumably means I presume I guess 68 00:05:20,710 --> 00:05:24,630 very lightly at first 我估计一开始一定是非常轻的去 69 00:05:24,630 --> 00:05:27,790 触摸要不然一定手就烫得不行了 From 70 00:05:29,100 --> 00:05:32,160 this he guessed the Earth's age to be somewhere between 71 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:32,960 75, 72 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:35,900 000 and 168, 73 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:40,800 000 years old 根据自己的这个实验他计算出地球的年 74 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:44,780 龄大概就是 75,000 年到 168, 75 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:46,760 000 年之间 This 76 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:52,780 was of course a wild underestimate but a radical notion 77 00:05:52,780 --> 00:05:56,520 nonetheless And Buff on found himself threatened with 78 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:01,000 excommunication for expressing it 这个在我们现在看 79 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:07,180 来当然是大大的低估了地球的年龄 under estimate 过 80 00:06:07,180 --> 00:06:09,460 低的估计了 but the radical notion 81 00:06:09,460 --> 00:06:14,140 nonethelessradical means very different very new 82 00:06:14,140 --> 00:06:18,820 very different from what most people believe 但是在当 83 00:06:18,820 --> 00:06:22,960 时这是非常激进的想法了 and Buff on found himself 84 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,260 threatenedwith excommunication for expressing it 85 00:06:26,260 --> 00:06:31,620 Buff on 就发现自己如果表达公开的表达这个想法的话 86 00:06:31,620 --> 00:06:35,480 他就有可能受到一个威胁 Threatened with 87 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:40,120 excommunication 就是教会会把他开除出去他会被开 88 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:44,500 除教籍这个 communication 大概大家或多或少都有点 89 00:06:44,500 --> 00:06:48,360 熟悉可能都了解的就是交流 90 ……（后略，完整文稿见视频页字幕）