Could we harness power from black holes?

我们可以利用黑洞的能量吗？





It might seem like an absurd idea, but physicists have long pondered whether black holes could one day be tapped for energy. But how possible is it?

这似乎是天方夜谭，但物理学家们一直以来都在思考有朝一日黑洞是否可以被用作能源之地。然而，这可能吗？



Imagine the scene: highly advanced civilisations get enormous amounts of energy from black holes, be it extracting it from collapsed stars or making artificial mini-holes that power spaceships. How feasible might it actually be to tap these cosmic behemoths for power one day? Clearly, it′s far, far beyond current technology – but pesky details like physical restrictions haven′t stopped theoretical physicists from exploring the question.

想象一下这样的情形：高度发达的人类社会从黑洞获得大量能源，比如从坍塌的恒星提取，或者是人造微小黑洞为宇宙飞船提供能源补给。但我们真的能有朝一日利用这些宇宙中的庞然大物的能源吗？显然，我们现在的科技水平还远远没有达到这个要求，但是，各种困难，包括物理学上的困惑并没有阻止理论派物理学家继续探索这一问题。



Black holes are stars that have burnt out and collapsed under their own gravity to an infinitesimally small point in space – a singularity. Inside the so-called event horizon, even light is trapped by a huge gravitational pull. So black holes were once thought of as barren plugholes, where nothing could escape – as energy drains rather than energy sources.

黑洞是由恒星燃烧殆尽，发生引力坍缩而形成。在视角线内，由于黑洞强大的引力场，即使是光也无法逃逸出来。所以，我们曾经一度认为黑洞是无价值的密封洞，里面的一起都无法逃逸出来，因而黑洞是能源“枯井”而不是能源之地。



But that view evolved once Stephen Hawking and others brought quantum physics into the mix. Hawking showed in the 1970s that black holes should emit energy from their boundaries in the form of radiation produced by quantum fluctuations of empty space itself. Eventually the black hole radiates itself away – it evaporates.

但是，这种观点因为斯蒂芬·威廉·霍金和其他人提出量子物理学而发生了改变。霍金在20世纪70年提出，黑洞以辐射的形式从其边界释放能源，而这种辐射是由其真空区的量子起伏形成。这个黑洞会因为辐射殆尽而最终蒸发掉。



This radiation is emitted very slowly, however. Might it be possible to induce a black hole to release all its Hawking radiation sooner, so that in effect it becomes like a ball of fuel? That′s not idle or quasi-magical speculation, for physicists have believed for at least 30 years that it might be possible.

然而，这种辐射是非常缓慢的过程。是否可以诱使一个黑洞加快辐射速度，从而变成一个事实上的燃料之球呢？这不是凭空想象或者是异想天开，因为物理学家们已经相信至少30年之后这是可行的。