Final Jeopardy: Physics (2-18-14)

The Final Jeopardy question (2/18/2014), in the category “Physics” was:

The name of this theory is from viewing sub-atomic particles as 1-dimensional objects, not as 0-dimensional points.

Here are the contenders in the second match of the 2014 College Championship: Eric Turner, a senior at Vanderbilt U; Ben Juster, a senior at UCLA; and Terry O’Shea, a Princeton sophomore.

Ben found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Other Lone Star Flags” under the $800 clue. He was in the lead with $4,400, $2,600 more than Eric in second place. He bet $1,200 and he was RIGHT.

Mauritania’s green flag has one of these under its single star. show

WHAT IS A CRESCENT?

Ben finished in the lead with $7,200. Terry was second with $3,600 and Eric was last with $2,800.

Eric found the first Daily Double in “Inside Art” under the $1,200 clue. He was in a second place tie with Terry now. At $3,600, they both had $4,000 less than Ben’s lead. He bet $2,000 and guessed the Thames. That was WRONG.

A closer look at Emmanuel Leutz’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware” reveals jagged, chunky ice, the type found in this European river it was based on and not in the Delaware. show

WHAT IS THE RHINE?

Ben found the last Daily Double in “Country Math” under the $800 clue. In the lead with $16,800, he had $7,200 more than Terry in second place. He bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.

Stripes on the USA flag minus colors on the French flag. show

WHAT IS TEN?

Ben finished in the lead with $19,800. Terry was next with $12,000 and Eric was in third place with $7,200.

Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS STRING THEORY?

“String theory is a mathematical theory that tries to explain certain phenomena which is not currently explainable under the standard model of quantum physics. ” (ThoughtCo.com: The Basics of String Theory)

Eric wrote down particle theory, then scratched that in favor of atomic theory. He bet everything and finished with nothing.

Terry got it right. She bet $7,900 and finished with $19,900.

Ben wrote down quantum theory. That cost him $4,201 so he ended up with $15,559.

So Ben and Eric both go home with $10,000, and Terry O’Shea will advance to the finals along with Tucker Pope.

Jeopardy Calendar Clue of the Day: Canada

Iqaluit, the capital of this territory created in 1999 means “Place of Fish” in the Inuktitu language. show

WHAT IS NUNAVUT?

Note from VJ: Coincidentally, I picked this calendar clue before I saw today’s “Country Math” triple stumper: “The number of Canadian provinces times the number of Canadian official languages,” which caused Alex Trebek to say: “Once again, not a great knowledge of Canada. Ten provinces, two official languages.”