这是写糖豆同学和物理“亲密接触”的第N篇博文了吧!千万别以为糖豆同学有多少高深的理论知识!K娃嘛,还属于扫盲阶段,那叫“启蒙教育”!我手里没有现成的教材。平时最有效的教育手段就是海阔天空地和他聊大天。想啥说啥。遇到有他真心想知道的,自然会求着“被教育”!然后就一环扣一环地引出很多类似的话题:越dig越深入了。信息时代了,电脑除了可以玩游戏,还真的可以帮助孩子学习的。那“狗”一放,基本上啥答案都招来了……
话题扯回“糖豆和物理”。这里写的都是发生在几个月前的故事。就我们家糖豆的一贯行事风格:他总是“暴风雨”般:一阵子的事!然后就风平浪静,消停了。因为那种“饥渴感”暂时消失了? 在这“物理”狂风刮过之后,他还横扫过一阵子数学(是的,是的,我知道:就“小中男”那几斧子),一路冲进微积分(有机会也来个“数学感悟1, 2, 3….连载)…… 小人对于Math也有比较特殊的亲和力:猜的本事特别大。许多没有正式接触过的概念,接触了1,他就自己去猜2, 还没啥失手过。不过,就那也已经是过去时了。人现在迷History和Religion了!(昨晚的问题:“Who was the first Christian anyway?”) 还有就是“写书”!(那啥,属于天书级别的,别问我到底写啥内容……反正他到处推销自己的作品呢!可惜他那些个哥们儿姐们儿的都是无产阶级,至今末有开张!)
扯入正题了哈!
话说去年10月份,糖豆同学学琴一年整。做为“二老师”,我整出一篇长文纪念。当时为了写文需要,拿小人的“music theory”和“String Theory”比较,原本想突出他那点儿有限的贝贝级别的音乐理论没啥难的。写得意了,就跟糖豆得瑟!“String Theory”名词一出来,小盆友的眼睛发亮了!新鲜事物啊!说是灰常想听听妈妈对String Theory的看法!我?(想当初3+1高考,我都没选物理的人!)于是乎,只能硬着头皮去图书馆借了最薄最小的一本扫盲书回来啃。糖豆这个着急啊,一天后就“体贴”地对我说:“Is it getting too complicated for you? How about I read it and explain it to you!” (是不是太难了啊?要不我来读了后解释给你听!)
第一次郑重其事地转卖刚学来的。我告诉他:“SuperString Theory说我们都live在一个11 dimension的world里 (我们都活在11维空间里)。”糖豆扬起小脸问道:“Does that 11 dimension include TIME? Is it still one dimension for time or more? (11维里包括时间了吗?时间还是只有一维吗?)” 这!这!这!那扫盲书里居然末有写哦!可能普林斯顿的大牛作者认为大家都应该知道。(汗!我这非理科妈太不给力了!还得去狗了才得到答案)! 11维里的确包括1维时间。看来Time属于一个Dimension对糖豆来说是天经地义,理所当然的。
至于如何解释extra dimension?我求助于YouTube: “远看一根电缆线很细,如同1个dimension的线。但对于爬在电缆线上的小蚂蚁来说,这绝对是三维的。” 就这几分钟的扫盲后,糖豆去拿了张纸,平放地上说:“Look! Mommy, this paper is flat: 2 dimension!(平铺的纸是2维的)”然后,他将纸卷了起来,咯咯笑道:“Look!I just made one extra dimension! (看啊!我让它变成了三维!)” 虽然糖豆没能让我看如何将11维变出来,但这也算是“开张”了:小朋友最起码懂了些概念,活学活用了。
糖豆善于“联想”。就是将A处学来的知识给用在B处。
糖豆貌似天生就熟悉不少关于particle(粒子?)的知识。提起Graviton,他知道“It is for gravity force!” “It doesn’t have Mass. Just like photon! (Graviton给出引力,没有质量,就同光子一样)” 有一天,我们看介绍CERN的简短纪录片,里面提及LHC有个雄伟计划:寻找Extra dimension。糖豆当时就发话了:“Just look at Graviton! That can travel to the extra dimension! (盯着Graviton吧!它能去外维空间)” 我这个吃惊啊(clip里没这么说呀),问他咋想的,他淡定地说:“They (String Theory?) said all the other strings are fixed in this dimension. Only graviton string is free to go anywhere, even other dimensions!(String理论提到其他的string都是定在我们这维的,只有Graviton可以自由穿越外维)” 有道理吧!(不过好像到目前为止, 还没看见哪个科学机构“看见”了这“Graviton”吧?)
String之后,又有一个新名词,新概念抓住了糖豆的眼球!那就是Quantum Entanglement和Quantum Teleportation!第一次听我提及Teleport的实验,他说:“Oh! Did it go through extra-dimension?(莫不是从外维传送的?)” 不久,他又突然问我: “You said the (Teleport) entangled Photon is 1,000 times faster than the speed of light?(你说那个被传送的光子比光速快1000倍?)”我点头,人家报道上这么说的。糖豆说: “I think it might travel back in Time (to the past), then come to NOW, so it has TIME to do the entanglement! ” 最近看到一篇报道,说是科学家正在研究Teleport“接收方”在“输出方”还没有传输前就已经感应了。打个比方:A还没有扔球给B呢,而B已经拿到A准备扔出的球了!匪夷所思哈!
那个阶段,糖豆由这个思路引申下去,对Electron Cloud的概念也起了一定的异议。他很想明白为什么Electron有“不确定性”。
糖豆小同学问:“How can scientists be sure that particle really is everywhere instead of being at one point at a time? They may be super, super, super fast! Maybe it is so fast that it travels to the past, then now! And they repeat that (Back forth in TIME) many times! So it just APPEARS like the electrons are everywhere at the same time.” 糖豆为了支持他自己的论点:“Just like light travels 7 times around equator in 1 second. Human didn't know that until now! In the blink of eye, photon already traveled many rounds around Earth! It is different light (before and after you closed your eyes), but people think that is the SAME light.” 我当时没办法继续“启发”或“反驳”。
一次,我告诉他LHC要弄出个地球上的“黑洞”(一条旧闻)。糖豆马上问:“What if you throw one of the two photons into that black hole? What will happen?” 我? 他解释: “If you throw a thing into a black hole, it will never come out. Right? And you don’t know what happened to it. What if you have two entangled Photons; throwing one into the black hole, look what goanna happen to the other one! That will be very interesting!”
同一天晚上,糖豆小盆友还突发奇想。他手指着小床左边的盥洗室门:“If I throw something through that door!” 然后他又手指着小床右边的壁橱门: “Maybe it will come out from that door! It might just go around and return to me! You know, the Universe may be round; things go around! What if that happens?” (他这么胡思乱想的时候,还没有看过“Who was Einstein” 书呢。后来读书发现Einstein也曾说过类似的话,让他非常高兴!)想起前几日和他斗嘴时,他说的: “The End might be the Beginning of something, and the Beginning could be the End of another thing!” 绕得大人七荤八素的!也别有一番道理。也联想到当初他问的有关一条路Start和End的问题。不知道他在设套儿呢,我说: “每条路都有两端的啦!”他坏笑:“Aha!What about a circle road!” 怎么说呢,貌似小同学今后成不了科研人员的话,还可以搞搞philosophy!
糖豆“小时候”(AKA:貌似是4岁左右的时候)非常喜欢Absolute Zero这个concept!当初是因为迷 化学元素表,很想知道“at what temperature all things freeze.” 现在知道这个Absolute Zero是个可望不可求的境界。我是解释不清楚的,只是“转告”糖豆同学:“如果真是Zero Kelvin,那某一个数学定式就出现了negative开square root!”他懂这个数学concept,知道这公式将不成立了!事情过去一段时间。 有一天,当被问:“What is the smallest unit of things?” 他答, “Atom! Oh, no, Strings!” 我接着问 “What about String?” 他乐:“They move (小手蛇一样舞动)!” 我:Why?他理所当然地:“To generate HEAT energy! To keep temperature above Zero Kelvin! Otherwise there will be a negative for square root somewhere!” 当然,他的发散性思维没停,接着联想到:“String move generates SOUND(一定是想他的piano string了)! If there is MATTER;it might make sound wave!” 咯咯地笑得灰常欢乐!
给糖豆找了个YouTube Clip 关于低温超导。(同Absolute Zero有关的呗!)看起来很奇妙哈!(http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=bmvlIdNXxjM)他当时是给吸引住了!clip里没解释机理。当晚睡前糖豆发表感想了: “As if one atom eats another atom and becomes it. They all THINK the same!”然后,突然的,他说:“Oh! I think it is that ‘Quantum Entanglement’for the Superconductor!” 糖豆妈当时不以为然。后来发现不少paper将这两者联系起来的! 有时候觉得他的思路不可思议。可能这就是conceptual thinker的特点?
好啦!有关糖豆小朋友和物理的故事就告一段落了。 末有新素材了!呵呵呵。他的注意力早飞到其他地方去了……!昨天去K班帮忙。走廊了挂满了小朋友写的“If I am the President…”, 有的写 “I