第1章 你好呀，量子小世界！/ Chapter 1 Hello, Little Quantum World!

七月的风裹着栀子花香刮过院子的时候，朵朵正举着泡泡棒，踮着脚够那片飘得最高的彩虹泡泡。阳光穿过泡泡表面的薄薄水膜，把细碎的光影投在奶奶的白头发上，闪得奶奶直眯眼睛：“朵朵啊，你知道为什么泡泡在太阳底下会变出这么多颜色吗？”

朵朵歪着脑袋咬泡泡棒的塑料柄，含糊地答：“是因为里面有彩虹小精灵吗？”

奶奶笑着揉了揉她翘起来的羊角辫，指了指飘在空中的泡泡：“不全对哦，这里面啊，住着一群特别小特别小的‘量子小精灵’，它们才是变出彩虹的魔法师～”

--- 奶奶年轻的时候也爱吹泡泡，那时候她总以为彩虹是泡泡自己变出来的小把戏，直到上小学科学课的时候，老师拿了个像小望远镜一样的仪器给她看——哦，原来泡泡里根本不是空的，飘着数不清的、 tiny tiny 的小光点，那些小光点就是光的量子小精灵呀！它们撞到泡泡表面的水膜，会拐来拐去地跑，不同颜色的量子小精灵拐的弯不一样，凑在一起就变成了你看到的彩虹光啦。

*(In the scorching July wind mixed with the scent of gardenias, Duoduo was holding a bubble wand, standing on her tiptoes to reach the highest rainbow bubble floating in the air. Sunlight passed through the thin water film on the bubble's surface, casting tiny light and shadow on Grandma's white hair, making Grandma squint with a smile: "Duoduo, do you know why bubbles turn so many colors in the sun?"*

*Duoduo tilted her head and bit the plastic handle of the bubble wand, answering vaguely: "Is it because there are rainbow sprites inside?"*

*Grandma smiled

奶奶笑着揉了揉她翘起来的羊角辫，指了指飘在空中的泡泡：“不全对哦，这里面啊，住着一群特别小特别小的‘量子小精灵’，它们才是变出彩虹的魔法师～” *(Grandma rubbed her little braids with a smile, pointing at the floating bubble: "Not entirely right. Inside it, there live very, very tiny 'quantum sprites', they are the magicians who make the rainbow.")*

朵朵顺着奶奶的手指凑过去看，泡泡表面浮着一层薄薄的水膜，阳光一照就晃出碎金似的光，她瞪圆了眼睛找了半天，也没看到奶奶说的“小精灵”：“小精灵在哪里呀？我怎么看不到？” *(Duoduo leaned in closer following Grandma's finger. The bubble had a thin layer of water film on its surface, shimmering like crushed gold in the sunlight. She squinted as hard as she could but couldn't see the "sprites" Grandma mentioned: "Where are the sprites? I can't see them at all!")*

奶奶从口袋里掏出个磨得发亮的放大镜递给她：“来，凑近点看，别把泡泡碰破啦。”朵朵把放大镜举到泡泡前面，本来圆溜溜的泡泡在镜片里变成了一个晃荡的水膜世界，里面飘着数不清的、tiny tiny的彩色小点，像把揉碎的彩虹糖末撒在了水里，风一吹就转着圈跑，风把泡泡吹得晃了晃，那些小点也跟着晃，像一群在跳舞的小精灵。 *(Grandma took a worn magnifying glass out of her pocket and handed it to her: "Come closer, but don't pop the bubble, okay?" Duoduo held the magnifying glass up to the bubble, and the round bubble turned into a swaying water film world in the lens, with countless tiny colorful dots floating inside, like crushed rainbow candy scattered in water, spinning and running when the wind blew. The wind blew

七月的风裹着栀子花香刮过院子的时候，朵朵正举着泡泡棒，踮着脚够那片飘得最高的彩虹泡泡。阳光穿过泡泡表面的薄薄水膜，把细碎的光影投在奶奶的白头发上，闪得奶奶直眯眼睛：“朵朵啊，你知道为什么泡泡在太阳底下会变出这么多颜色吗？”

朵朵歪着脑袋咬泡泡棒的塑料柄，含糊地答：“是因为里面有彩虹小精灵吗？”

奶奶笑着揉了揉她翘起来的羊角辫，指了指飘在空中的泡泡：“不全对哦，这里面啊，住着一群特别小特别小的‘量子小精灵’，它们才是变出彩虹的魔法师～”

*(In the scorching July wind mixed with the scent of gardenias, Duoduo was holding a bubble wand, standing on her tiptoes to reach the highest rainbow bubble floating in the air. Sunlight passed through the thin water film on the bubble's surface, casting tiny light and shadow on Grandma's white hair, making Grandma squint with a smile: "Duoduo, do you know why bubbles turn so many colors in the sun?"*

*Duoduo tilted her head and bit the plastic handle of the bubble wand, answering vaguely: "Is it because there are rainbow sprites inside?"*

*Grandma rubbed her little braids with a smile, pointing at the floating bubble: "Not entirely right. Inside it, there live very, very tiny 'quantum sprites', they are the magicians who make the rainbow.")*

奶奶年轻的时候也爱吹泡泡，那时候她总以为彩虹是泡泡自己变出来的小把戏，直到上小学科学课的时候，老师拿了个像小望远镜一样的仪器给她看——哦，原来泡泡里根本不是空的，飘着数不清的、tiny tiny 的小光点，那些小光点就是光的量子小精灵呀！它们撞到泡泡表面的水膜，会拐来拐去地跑，不同颜色的量子小精灵拐的弯不一样，凑在一起就变成了你看到的彩虹光啦。

朵朵顺着奶奶的手指凑过去看，泡泡表面浮着一层薄薄的水膜，阳光一照就晃出碎金似的光，她瞪圆了眼睛找了半天，也没看到奶奶说的“小精灵”：“小精灵在哪里呀？我怎么看不到？” *(Duoduo leaned in closer following Grandma's finger. The bubble had a thin layer of water film on its surface, shimmering like crushed gold in the sunlight. She squinted as hard as she could but couldn't see the "sprites" Grandma mentioned: "Where are the sprites? I can't see them at all!")*

奶奶从口袋里掏出个磨得发亮的放大镜递给她：“来，凑近点看，别把泡泡碰破啦。”朵朵把放大镜举到泡泡前面，本来圆溜溜的泡泡在镜片里变成了一个晃荡的水膜世界，里面飘着数不清的、tiny tiny 的彩色小点，像把揉碎的彩虹糖末撒在了水里，风一吹就转着圈跑，风把泡泡吹得晃了晃，那些小点也跟着晃，像一群在跳舞的小精灵。 *(Grandma took a worn magnifying glass out of her pocket and handed it to her: "Come closer, but don't pop the bubble, okay?" Duoduo held the magnifying glass up to the bubble, and the round bubble turned into a swaying water film world in the lens, with countless tiny colorful dots floating inside, like crushed rainbow candy scattered in water, spinning and running when the wind blew. The wind blew the bubble, and those dots shook with it, like a group of dancing sprites.)*

一、泡泡里的彩虹小精灵：光的量子秘密

奶奶把放大镜凑到朵朵眼前，指着那些晃来晃去的小光点说：“你看这些 tiny tiny 的小光点，就是光的量子小精灵，英文叫 Photon /ˈfəʊtɒn/ 哦，是光的最小单位，就像你吃的饼干，最小不能比饼干渣还小，光最小就是光子啦。太阳光里其实藏着红、橙、黄、绿、青、蓝、紫七种颜色的光子，它们跑到泡泡的水膜上，有的被弹回去，有的钻进去又钻出来，不同颜色的光子跑的路线不一样，凑在一起就变成了你看到的彩虹啦。”

*(Grandma held the magnifying glass close to Duoduo's eyes, pointing at the swaying little dots: "Look at these tiny, tiny light spots, they are the quantum sprites of light, called Photon /ˈfəʊtɒn/ in English. They are the smallest unit of light, just like the cookie you eat - it can't be smaller than cookie crumbs, and the smallest unit of light is the photon. Sunlight actually hides seven colors of photons: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple. When they run to the water film of the bubble, some are bounced back, some go in and then come out. Different colors of photons run different routes, and when they get together, they become the rainbow you see.")*

朵朵伸手去碰泡泡，刚碰到就“啪”地破了，碎成的小水珠落在她的手背上，凉丝丝的，她有点失望：“小精灵都跑掉啦？” *(Duoduo reached out to touch the bubble, and it popped as soon as she touched it, breaking into small water droplets that fell on the back of her hand, cool and moist. She was a little disappointed: "Did all the sprites run away?")*

奶奶笑着擦掉她手上的水珠：“没跑没跑，光子小精灵跑得可快啦，一秒钟能跑三十万公里，比我们的飞机快几百万倍呢，它们只是跑到别的地方去玩啦，比如跑到你的眼睛里，你就看到光啦，跑到树叶上，树叶就变成绿色的啦，跑到萤火虫的屁股上，就变成小灯笼啦。”

*(Grandma smiled and wiped the water off her hand: "They didn't run away, photons run so fast that they can travel 300,000 kilometers in one second, millions of times faster than our airplane. They just went to other places to play. For example, when they run into your eyes, you see light; when they run onto leaves, the leaves turn green; when they run onto a firefly's butt, they become a little lantern.")*

【插图1：朵朵举着放大镜看泡泡，泡泡里飘着彩色的小光点，旁边标着“光的量子小精灵=光子 Photon”，背景是夏天的院子，飘着肥皂泡】

二、什么是“量子”呀？量子小精灵的大家族

朵朵趴在奶奶膝盖上晃脚，又问：“奶奶，那‘量子’到底是什么呀？是所有小精灵的名字吗？”

奶奶从旁边的果盘里拿了个橘子，剥了一瓣递给她：“对呀，量子就是这些 tiny tiny 的小颗粒的名字，最早是一个叫普朗克的德国爷爷发现的，他发现能量不是一直连续的，而是一份一份的，每一份最小的能量，他就叫‘量子 Quantum /ˈkwɒntəm/’，后来大家就把微观世界里所有这种一份一份的小颗粒，都叫量子啦。”

*(Duoduo lay on Grandma's knee swinging her feet, and asked again: "Grandma, what exactly is 'quantum'? Is it the name of all sprites?"*

*Grandma took an orange from the fruit bowl next to her, peeled a segment and handed it to her: "That's right, quantum is the name of these tiny, tiny particles. It was first discovered by a German grandpa named Planck. He found that energy is not continuous, but comes in pieces, and the smallest piece of energy, he called 'Quantum /ˈkwɒntəm/'. Later, people called all these piece-by-piece tiny particles in the microscopic world 'quantum'.")*

“那量子都有哪些成员呀？”朵朵把橘子瓣塞进嘴里，酸甜的汁水溅出来，她舔了舔嘴角问。 *( "What members are there in the quantum family?" Duoduo put the orange segment in her mouth, sour and sweet juice splashed out, and she licked the corner of her mouth asking.)*

“量子大家族可热闹啦，”奶奶掰着手指头数，“最先认识的就是光子小精灵，它是光的量子，还有电子小精灵，是电的量子，是给我们的手机、电视供电的小魔法师，还有原子、质子、中子，都是量子家族的成员哦，它们都特别小，小到我们的眼睛根本看不到，普通放大镜也看不到，要用放大几百万倍的电子显微镜才能看到呢。”

*( "The quantum family is very lively," Grandma counted on her fingers: "The first one we got to know is the photon sprite, it is the quantum of light. There is also the electron sprite, the quantum of electricity, which is the little magician that powers our phones and TVs. There are also atoms, protons, neutrons, all members of the quantum family. They are all very small, so small that our eyes can't see them at all, ordinary magnifying glasses can't see them either, we need an electron microscope that magnifies millions of times to see them.")*

::: info 电子版侧边栏：量子小词典 > Quantum 量子：微观世界里最小的一份一份的颗粒，是组成我们世界的基本小单位哦。 > Photon 光子：光