评论
打印
In this day and age, glass is pretty much ubiquitous.
如今这个时代，玻璃几乎已经无处不在。
It's an integral part of our smartphones, high speed fiber optic cables, windows...the list goes on.
制造很多东西都离不开这种材料，就比如我们的智能手机、高速光缆，窗户，这样的例子不胜枚举。
And yet, even though we're surrounded by it, scientists are still puzzled by glass, and why it forms the way it does.
问题是，尽管我们身边到处都有玻璃存在，这种材料本身以及它为什么会是当下这种形态等问题却依然是科学界的一大谜题。
Through studying glass, researchers have realized that there could be an ideal form that may never be attainable— but they're still on a quest to find it.
通过研究，研究人员已经意识到，或许，这世上真的有一种理想的，人们永远也无法变为现实的形态存在，不过他们并未因此气馁。
There are more types of glass than the silica variety you're most familiar with.
论玻璃的种类，可不止你我最熟悉的二氧化硅这一类。
Glass is technically any rigid amorphous solid,
严格来讲，任何坚硬的无定形固体都可以称之为玻璃
meaning its atoms and molecules aren't arranged in an orderly structure,
无定型的意思就是说它的原子和分子不是有序排列的结构，
but rather in whatever random arrangement they happened to be in when the material cooled and solidified.
材料冷却和凝固时，它们的原子和分子碰巧处于什么样的排列就是什么样的排列。
It's as though a liquid just stopped moving all of a sudden.
就好比一种液体突然停止了流动一样。
Unlike ice, where the water molecules tug on each other and lock themselves into a repeating crystal pattern,
玻璃和冰不一样，水在冷却成冰的时候，水分子是会相互拉扯，并将自己锁定在重复的晶体图案中的，
as glass cools, its molecules contract until they stop moving altogether.
玻璃在冷却的时候，它的分子是一直在收缩的，直到完全停止运动。
And that's weird—because in theory, if it were a liquid that has stopped flowing because it was cold,
这就很奇怪了，因为，从理论上讲，如果玻璃是一种因为温度低而停止流动的液体的话，
you should be able to still give it a squeeze and change its shape.
我们应该是可以通过挤压的方式改变它的形状的。
I would not recommend you squeeze glass to give this a try, it's rigid and it'll cut ya.
但我不建议大家去尝试挤压玻璃，因为它太硬了，会弄伤大家的。
You may have heard that because of this, glass is like an endlessly flowing liquid,
大家可以听说过，正因为这个原因，玻璃就好比一种无尽流动的液体，
and that's sort of true...but only in the strictest sense.
这么说倒也没错……只不过这一说法只在最严格的意义上才成立。
One study from 2017 estimated that if a cathedral were to stand at room temperature for a billion years,
据2017年的一项研究估计，如果一座教堂在室温下保持10亿年屹立不倒，
it's glass would flow just a single nanometer.
它的玻璃也只会流动一纳米。
Another research team from Spain examined samples of 110 million-year-old amber,
来自西班牙的一个研究小组研究了一批源自1.1亿年前的琥珀的样本，
a naturally occurring variety of glass derived from tree sap,
琥珀其实就是树脂（石化）形成的一种天然玻璃，
and found that over its long existence it had become about 2% denser.
他们发现，在其存在的漫长过程中，它的密度只增加了2%左右。
Decades ago, researchers came up with an idea: if glass could still flow and settle,
几十年前，研究人员曾提出了一个想法：如果玻璃可以继续流动和沉淀的话，
then maybe it could reach a hypothetical ideal state,
那它说不定还真能达到之前假定的那种理想状态，
where the randomly flowing molecules happened to arrange themselves as dense and orderly as possible.
随机流动的分子在机缘巧合之下呈现出了尽可能密集，尽可能有序的状态。
This “ideal glass” could explain why glass is a liquid with molecules that can't flow.
这种“理想玻璃”就可以解释玻璃为什么是含有不能流动的分子的一种液体这一问题了。
But to achieve it in reality, through the usual method of cooling a liquid until it hardened, meant cooling it impossibly, or even infinitely slowly.
但要在现实中做到这一点，要想通过冷却使液体变硬的常规方法来冷却玻璃，那冷却的速度就要不可思议的慢，甚至是无限的慢。
This would give the molecules a chance to settle into their lowest energy arrangement.
这样，分子才有机会按照能量最低的方式排列。
Glass made this way would have entropy as low as a crystal's.
以这种方式制成的玻璃的熵将与水晶的熵一样低。
Paradoxically, randomness could produce order.
矛盾的是，无序也能带来有序。
Ideal glass would have properties very different from the glass we're used to.
理想玻璃的特性和我们常见的玻璃的特性大不相同。
For one, it would have a lower heat capacity when cooled to near absolute zero.
首先，当冷却到接近绝对零度时，理想玻璃的热容更小。
Non-ideal glass is thought to be riddled with two-level systems,
非理想玻璃则充满了两个能级系统，
bunches of molecules that can go back and forth between two equally stable arrangements.
分子束可以在两个同样稳定的排列之间来回切换。
Near absolute zero, even when crowded by surrounding molecules,
接近绝对零度的时候，即便周围已经挤满了分子，
these two-level systems can quantum tunnel between configurations, absorbing heat in the process.
这些二能级系统也可以在构型之间建立量子隧道，同时借机吸收热量。
But if ideal glass is already in the most stable configuration possible,
但是，如果理想玻璃已经处于最稳定的状态，
there is no second form it can switch to, so its heat capacity drops.
就没有第二种形式可以切换了，那它的热容就会变小。
Amazingly, while we haven't found the ideal glass we're searching for, we have gotten closer.
喜大普奔的是，虽然我们还没有找到我们一直在寻找的理想玻璃，但我们已经快找到了。
That's thanks to a very different glassmaking technique that makes use of vapor deposition, where glass is built one molecule at a time.
说到这个，就不得不提利用气相沉积法，一个分子一个分子地制造出玻璃的这种非常新奇的玻璃制造技术了。
The result is ultra-stable glass that's not as orderly as the hypothetical ideal,
这样制造出来的玻璃稳定性超群，分子排列虽然没有理想玻璃那样有序，
but still denser and more stable than any glass we've made before.
但其密度和稳定性还是好于我们以前制作的所有玻璃。
Scientists are also searching for the perfect form of glass virtually.
同时，科学家们也在通过虚拟手段探索完美形态的玻璃。
Thanks to advancements in computer processing power and modeling techniques,
好在我们的计算机处理能力和建模技术都在不断进步，
simulations that look for the ideal arrangement have gotten exponentially faster.
寻找理想排列（的理想玻璃）的模拟速度已经成倍提高。
In the end, we may never be able to make ideal glass,
最后，我想说的是，我们或许永远都制造不出理想的玻璃，
but we're curious and we're diligent, and we're going to keep trying.
但我们有好奇心啊，我们勤奋啊，我们还是会继续努力的。
You may have heard that old cathedral glass is thicker at the bottom because it's sagged over time.
大家可能听说过，特别古老的那些教堂的玻璃下面部分比上面部分厚一些，因为随着时间的推移，玻璃会沉降。
In reality, that's just due to the technique used to make the glass.
事实上，上下厚度不一只不过是制作玻璃的技术的问题。
We're struggling to make common glass better, but we may be able to make graphene out of common trash.
改善普通玻璃费时费力，但从普通垃圾中制造出石墨烯或许并不是什么难事。
For more on that check out my episode here.
了解详情请点击此处查看，那期节目也是我做的噢。
Are there any other material mysteries you'd like us to cover?
还有什么有关其他材料的谜团是你希望我们来给大家讲讲的么？
Let us know down in the comments, make sure to hit that subscribe button, and as always, thanks for watching Seeker.
有的话就快来评论中告诉我们吧。记得点击订阅按钮噢。还是那句话，感谢大家的收看。
We'll see you next time.
我们下期节目再见。
