万物简史 第191期:威力巨大的原子(05)

 　　There, in a short chapter of just five pages (out of the book’s more than nine hundred), people of learning first encountered atoms in something approaching their modern conception. Dalton’s simple insight was that at the root of all matter are exceedingly tiny, irreducible particles. “We might as well attempt to introduce a new planet into the solar system or annihilate¹ one already in existence, as to create or destroy a particle of hydrogen,” he wrote.

　　在该书只有5页的短短的一章里（该书共有900多页），学术界人士第一次接触到了近乎现代概念的原子。道尔顿的见解很简单：在一切物质的基部，都是极其微小而又不可还原的粒子。“创造或毁灭一个氢粒子，也许就像向太阳系引进一颗新的行星或毁灭一颗业已存在的行星那样不可能。”他写道。

　　道尔顿

　　Neither the idea of atoms nor the term itself was exactly new. Both had been developed by the ancient Greeks. Dalton’s contribution was to consider the relative sizes and characters of these atoms and how they fit together. He knew, for instance, that hydrogen was the lightest element, so he gave it an atomic weight of one. He believed also that water consisted of seven parts of oxygen to one of hydrogen, and so he gave oxygen an atomic weight of seven. By such means was he able to arrive at the relative weights of the known elements. He wasn’t always terribly accurate—oxygen’s atomic weight is actually sixteen, not seven—but the principle was sound and formed the basis for all of modern chemistry and much of the rest of modern science.

　　无论是原子的概念，还是“原子”这个词本身，都称不上是新鲜事。二者都是古希腊人发明的。道尔顿的贡献在于，他考虑了这些原子的相对大小和性质，以及它们的结合方法。例如，他知道氢是最轻的元素，因此他给出的原子量是1。他还认为水由七份氧和一份氢组成，因此他给氧的原子量是7。通过这种办法，他就能得出已知元素的相对重量。他并不总是十分准确——氧的原子量实际上是16，不是7，但这个原理是很合理的，成了整个现代化学以及许多其他科学的基础。

1 annihilate   

v.使无效；毁灭；取消

参考例句：

• Archer crumpled up the yellow sheet as if the gesture could annihilate the news it contained.阿切尔把这张黄纸揉皱，好象用这个动作就会抹掉里面的消息似的。
• We should bear in mind that we have to annihilate the enemy.我们要把歼敌的重任时刻记在心上。