Final Jeopardy: Physics Terms (4-9-19)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (4/9/2019) in the category “Physics Terms” was:

Ironically, it’s a metaphor meaning a huge step forward, but this 2-word process only occurs on a subatomic scale

3x champ James Holzhauer, a pro sports gambler from Las Vegas, NV, has won $133,451 now. In Game 4, he is up against: Ariana Mikulski, an associate teaching professor from State College, Pa; and Sameer Rai, a freelancer from Los Altos, CA.

Click here to leave well wishes and prayers for Alex Trebek. There’s also a link to where you can make a donation to pancreatic cancer research in his honor.

Round 1 Categories: Beer – Stout- Logger – Pale Ail – Light – “Porter”

James found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Pale Ail” under the $1,000 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. He was the only one with any money, $1,000 for a correct response in “Light.” He bet it all and he was RIGHT.

Malarial & iron deficiency are 2 types of this condition that can lead to paleness. show

James finished in the lead with $13,000. Sameer was second with $2,600 and Ariana was last with $800.

Round 2 Categories: Asian Cities – A Short Story Category – Cat Idioms – International Architecture & Design – Music Festivals – American History

James found the first Daily Double in “American History” under the $1,600 clue on the 3rd pick. He was in the lead with $14,600 now, $11,200 more than Sameer in second place. He made the “all in” gesture, betting it all and he was RIGHT.

In 1904 Oklahoma city policeman Joe Burnett killed Ed O’Kelley, who had killed Robert Ford, who had killed this outlaw. show

James found the last Daily Double in “Architecture” under the $800 clue, with 3 clues left after it. In the lead with $46,800, he had $39,800 more than Sameer in second place. He bet $25,000 and he was RIGHT.

In Andalusia Arabic calligraphy represents this style named for medieval visitors from Africa. show

James finished in the lead with $72,600. (Alex told him he was $4,400 off the one-day record and James said, “Okay, I’ll try.”) Sameer was second with $7,000 and Ariana was third with $6,400.

ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS A QUANTUM LEAP?

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, under its entry for quantum, the term quantum leap came into use in 1963 and is often figurative. Before that, quantum jump was introduced in 1954. If you type in either of those terms in wikipedia, you will wind up on the Atomic electron transition page. Physics World has a good video on youtube that explains a quantum jump so well, even I could understand it!

Here’s a video link for everybody who got it by knowing the title of the Scott Bakula TV series, with a funny scene at the end.



Ariana bet $700, bringing her up to $7,100.

Sameer bet $5,801, finishing with $12,801.

James bet $38,314 and set a new one-day record with a $110,914 win. That’s a little more than double yesterday’s $50,845 win. His 4-day total took a quantum leap to $244,365 and also set a new record.

Final Jeopardy (4/9/2019) James Holzhauer, Ariana Mikulski, Sameer Rai

How’d he know that? Here are two clues that James got in INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN:

($1200) Former Yankee catcher Jorge could tell you this Spanish word means “inn”

($2000) Lukovitsa is the Russian name for this vegetable-shaped style of tower dome

2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Americana”

There are rest stops named for Edison, Lombardi & Woodrow Wilson on this road mentioned in the 1968 song “America” show

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38 Responses

  1. Alfred Robert Hogan says:

    I fully agree with the mosy astute comments posted by Albert. I do not AT ALL approve of “professional gambling” from a moral perspective. I will concede this fellow possesses some impressive knowledge and has performed extraordinarily well on JEOPARDY! including in this stunning-total win. I wish he had vastly better ethics and vocation and orientation (and was better dressed).

  2. John Christian Ambion says:

    @VJ @John B./I. I have words to say to Josh Hill, Ryan Fenster, Kyle Jones, and Steven Grade. In the words of Scar, “be prepared,” for this man. He crushed the competition after what he did, setting a new one-day record, amassing almost a quarter of a million in just four games, and maybe, one day, he could topple Ken Jennings for good. Beware.

  3. aaaa says:

    It’s possible they could have the next tapings of Jeopardy! be the TofC, and tape it sooner than late July, while Alex is still feeling up to hosting it. DOn’t know if that would happen though. If James wins out the season he will be at 62 wins(78 shows left in the season, 10 of which are the Teacher’s tourney and 10 of which are another Teen tourney)

  4. Dal Higbee says:

    I never thought anyone would ever break Roger Craig’s single-day cash winnings record. I would rage if James loses tomorrow.

    • William Weyser says:

      Me too. For those who wants James Holzhauer to win his 5th game tomorrow, say ”I!”, and after you do, keep your fingers crossed.

  5. John Christian Ambion says:

    There’s one thing that I can describe James Holzhauer aside from being a professional sports gambler and a very bright young man after his performance today: A VERY HARD NUT TO CRACK.

    I’m happy that Steven Grade became a 5-time champion and ending the 4-day curse, but James Holzhauer? Beware.

  6. Albert says:

    James’s gambling will sooner or later, hopefully sooner, be his undoing. James will bet everything on a DD and lose the game. I really hate gamblers. No matter how much James wins on Jeopardy he will lose it all gambling in Las Vegas. It is a crying shame the young Indian man lost to James. The young Indian man could have put his winnings to a worthwhile purpose, as opposed to James using his winnings to lose at the casinos.

    • John Christian Ambion says:

      @Albert, you’re very delusional. In fact, you didn’t even know the difference between gambling at the casino AND gambling in professional sports. Anyway, James, what can I say, Roger Craig, Austin Rogers, and Ken Jennings would be totally shocked about your record. A new one-day record. EVER. And that’s very hard to beat.

    • VJ says:

      The casinos? Really, Albert, you’re just showing that you have no concept of what a professional sports gambler bets on.

      Read this article: Famous Sports Bettors – “The reality is that the world’s most famous bettors – the people who have set the standard in the modern public psyche – are basically just giant math nerds.”

      • Albert says:

        There is no such thing as a ‘Professional’ gambler. All so-called ‘Professional’ gamblers eventually end up broke because the odds always catch up with them. James is a misguided, immature kid. Anybody who doesn’t realize that is as misguided as James. James needs to go to a Gambler’s Anonymous meeting ASAP and get some serious psychiatric help to fix his gambling problem.

        • VJ says:

          Well, that’s your opinion. But since we’re not here to talk about his profession, I don’t want to hear about it anymore.

        • John B./I. says:

          All I am detecting here is pure jealousy.

  7. John says:

    Another proof of James’ solid performance: 4/4 in FJ.

  8. Richard Corliss says:

    Alex Schmidt is out.

    • John B./I. says:

      So is Jonathan after the TT.

      • Richard Corliss says:

        We’ll just see after the first quarterfinal game starts.

        • John says:

          Doesn’t matter. The TT winner will take the currently empty spot, vacated by Larry Martin. That puts Jonathan out and the next “on the bubble” then will be Dave Leffler as # 15 overall. Dhruv, the TT winner + 13 “regular” players.

        • VJ says:

          It would be nice if the Teachers Tournament could actually happen before we knock the next person off the list.

  9. John B./I. says:

    A quote from “Rocky III” comes to mind (Mr. T.) “I pity the fool..” I pity the players who had/have to go against James.🙂

  10. VJ says:

    Maybe James will be the guy who beats Brad Rutter somewhere down the next Super Tournament road.

    • VJ says:

      P.S. there was one triple stumper today — it was in the Cat category and that’s included in the extra clues

      LINK: 10 more clues from the game

  11. klm says:

    did he also break Philip Tiu’s record for the largest bet on a DD?

  12. Lou says:

    Wow, I got no words for this. If Larissa Kelly or David Madden were watching this, they would be very proud of James and his historic game played today. This guy practically dominated the whole board. Impressive is all I can say today. VJ and John, do you think James could get to Julia Collins total or maybe Austin Rogers? I mean this guy has strong knowledge here. He must have been taught well.

    • John says:

      @Lou
      IMO one of the advantages of his job is that he has time to study or learn whatever he wants.He is not only smart but also intelligent, 2 completely different things, You can be smart, but you learned it the hard way. You can be intelligent but not smart because you are too lazy….OR: you can be intelligent to realize that you can learn things the easy way.
      Unless he gets tripped up by a really outlandish DD I think he’ll be around for a while. And even IF he gets a DD that’s not in his area he should be smart enough to wager low. Finally not a “run of the mill ” player. We have waited long enough!

  13. klm says:

    Can anyone please please tell me if J! can be watched online somewhere? I am willing to pay a reasonable membership fee but I don’t have cable tv facility. So please, some legitimate website with daily online streaming.

    I can’t believe I won’t ever get to watch today’s historic game :((((((((.

    Do let me know.

    • John says:

      @klm
      Should be on youtube sooner or later, at least the most important parts like the DDs and FJ. Sometimes the entire game is posted but not right away.

    • JP says:

      I’m sure Jeopardy’s YouTube channel will upload a video with the highlights from today’s game.

      I believe the cheapest way to watch Jeopardy online is to purchase a CBS All Access subscription ($6 a month), and then (if necessary) to use a browser extension to set your location to a city where a CBS affiliate airs the show. You can find full instructions on reddit.com’s Jeopardy page.

      I personally don’t have easy access to Jeopardy at home, so I just get the recap here, and check out j-archive.com later 🙂

    • VJ says:

      @klm, what JP said — here is a link to the post where they discuss the various options that are available.

      Several years ago, I went the antenna and TV tuner route and had that hooked up to my computer. A good antenna works on a TV, too with no need for a tuner. But I live in the city so it was easy to pick up a signal. idk if it will work in your specific area.

    • klm says:

      thanks everyone for the suggestions. much appreciated!

  14. JP says:

    I believe James’ eventual demise will be from either:

    1. Missing a daily double where he made a large bet, and being unable to recover
    2. A competitor hitting one or two daily doubles and being brave enough to make the large wager they need to have a chance

    As he continues to win big, the probability of #2 should increase, as the competitors will see how dominant he is while watching from the stands as they wait for their turn. It should be the motivation they need to dispense with the weak wagers made by most competitors.

    I think he could win 20 games, but I don’t see him getting past say 30 or 40.

    He’s demonstrating what Roger Craig really showed: Large bets, when you have good reason to believe you know the answer, are the best, winning strategy, as they can give you a runaway (and guaranteed victory) instantly, instead of the crap shoot in Final Jeopardy when there is no lock game.

  15. John says:

    What really does impress me the most about James is that he covers so many categories with apparent ease. PAIL AIL could also have been called POTPOURRI, AMERICAN HISTORY could be pretty much anything and the …ARCHITECTURE (international). ….WOW! Congratulations does not even begin to describe it!!

    • VJ says:

      It was PALE AIL — having to do with causes of pale skin — not a potpourri category.

      • John B./I. says:

        Yes ma’am. A typo. Still a lot of ailments possible. Thanks for pointing it out.

  16. Richard Corliss says:

    Wow. This beats Roger Craig’s second day total.

    • William Weyser says:

      I’m not sure what Roger Craig will think when he sees this. Anyways, James Holzhauer has broken a lot of records tonight, such as the most amount of money won in 1 day: $110,914. The most amount of money to bet on a Daily Double: $25,000. The most amount of money going into Final Jeopardy!: $72,600 & the most amount of money won in 4 days: $244,365, and I seriously hope that James wins his 5th game tomorrow, because I want to see him in the Tournament Of Champions, along with the other 9, and soon to be 10 in May, that are still waiting in the wings.

      • John B./I. says:

        My guess is he will be in the ToC anyway. He’s leading all 4 game winners and I don’t think there will be all 5 game winners. We will probably have a couple of 4 game winners in the ToC the way things have been going. We had to wait from Oct. ’18 till April ’19 for a 5 time winner. They can’t delay the ToC indefinitely.

        • William Weyser says:

          Well, I can’t imagine that James would not be in the TOC, but as I said, I seriously hope that James wins his 5th game tomorrow.