How are you feeling about the jump?"

等一下就要跳了，你感覺如何？

"Hi there, I'm antihydrogen, your antiatom,

嗨，我是反氫，你的反原子

and to be honest, I'm feeling kind of neutral.

說實話，我現在感覺很中性

My positron and antiproton balance out, just like your electron and proton, right?"

我的正電子和反質子相互平衡，就跟你的電子和質子一樣，是吧？

"Hey, yeah! You look just like me, but different somehow."

嘿，對阿，你跟我很像，但又有那麼一點點不同

"Whoa, be careful! If we get too close, we'll disappear in a spark of energy.

哇，小心，如果我們靠太近，我們會瞬間在能量火花中消失

I'd like to stay in one piece."

我想保持完整

"Oh wow, sorry."

喔，哇，不好意思。

"It's okay. I was just thinking,

沒關係，我在想....

it's kind of weird for us to be chatting like this before our jump above CERN."

在歐洲核子研究所上做高空彈跳前，我們這樣聊天有點怪怪的

"Why's that?"

為什麼？

"Well, for starters, how do we know we'll both fall?"

嗯，對菜鳥來說，怎麼知道我們都會往下墜？

"Of course we'll fall. It's gravity,

當然會下墜啊，因為地心引力的關係

you know, the force of attraction between masses.

你知道的 物質之間的吸引力

I even know how fast we should fall.

我甚至知道我們會以多快的速度下墜喔

Galileo showed in that tower experiment

在伽利略的比薩斜塔落體實驗中

that all falling objects accelerate at the same rate, regardless of mass."

無論是什麼物質，掉落物都會以同樣的速度下墜

"That's for bigger objects.

大物質就適用這個理論

It's a different story for small particles like us.

像我們這種小粒子，又是另外一回事了

Our mass is so tiny that the gravitational force we experience is miniscule,

我們太微小了，小到我們只能感受到極小的地心引力

and if the particles are charged, like my antiproton or your proton,

如果粒子有電荷，像是我的反質子或是你的質子

then it becomes impossible to detect

引力就小到幾乎無法察覺

compared to the much greater electromagnetic force acting on them."

因為有更強大的電磁力作用在粒子上

"But that's only for charged particles. You and I are both neutral.

但那只是帶電粒子的情況啊，我們都是中性粒子

Our charges balance out, so the electromagnetic force is small

我們電力平衡，所以電磁力很小

and the gravitational force should be detectable.

因此可以感受到地心引力

I know mine's been measured."

我就有被測試過啊

"Because you're everywhere, but I'm kind of hard to find."

因為你無所不在啊，但我就有點難被找到了

"Why is that, anyway?

那是為什麼？

Shouldn't there have been an equal amount of matter and antimatter created in the Big Bang?"

大爆炸不是創造了相同數量的物質和反物質嗎？

"You'd think so, then all of those particles would have annihilated each other into energy, remember?

如果是這樣，那所有粒子就會互相撞擊，死於能量當中，記得嗎？

And the Universe is obviously full of matter.

而物質充滿整個宇宙

No one knows why there is more matter than antimatter,

沒人知道為什麼物質比反物質還多

which is why scientists are so interested in studying me."

這也是為什麼科學家喜歡研究我了

"So where do they find you anyway?"

那他們到底如何找到你？

"Actually, I was made in that lab down there.

其實我是被下面的實驗室創造出來的

They needed an accelerator to make my antiproton because it's so heavy,

因為我的反質子太重，需要加速器才能生成

just as heavy as your proton.

就跟你的質子一樣重

Getting my positron was easier.

取得我的正電子就容易多了

It's much lighter, like your electron, and there are materials that naturally decay by emitting one.

正電子比較輕，就跟你的電子一樣，有些素材衰減就會放出電子

Then they just had to put the two together and they got me.

然後他們把反質子跟正電子組合一塊，我就出生了

But it's only recently that they've been able to keep me around long enough to study my properties."

最近 他們終於有辦法將我長久保存 好好地研究我的性能

"And now they've sent you on this jump with me. Hey, wait a minute."

現在他們把你送來跟我一起跳。嘿，等等！

"That's right. We're reenacting Galileo's experiment,

是啊，我們要重現伽利略的實驗

but with matter and antimatter instead of two objects made of matter."

但是用物質跟反物質做實驗，而不是兩個物品

"So what's going to happen?

會發生什麼事？

Are you going to fall upwards or something?"

你會往上飄嗎？

"Only one way to find out!"

只有一個方法能得知了