Final Jeopardy: Chemical Elements (3-5-24)
The Final Jeopardy question (3/5/2024) in the category “Chemical Elements” was:
Isolated in 1945 during uranium fission research, it was named for an ancient deity to suggest humans gaining a new power
Today’s Tournament of Champions contestants are: Ben Chan, a philosophy professor from Green Bay, WI; Justin Bolsen, a public policy economics student from Canton, GA; and Emmett Stanton, a freelance writer from Baltimore, MD.
Round 1 Categories: 5 for the History Books – Names in Fashion – TV in the Aughties – Getting Together – The Animal Kingdom – Words in Colonel Jessup’s Big Speech
Ben found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The Animal Kingdom” under the $600 clue on the 8th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $3,600, $2,200 more than Emmett in second place. Ben bet it all and he was RIGHT.
The 2 main species of this great ape are the Bornean & Sumatran show
Ben finished in the lead with $11,400. Emmett was in second place with $3,200. Justin was last with $1,600. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Jazz’ Great Day in Harlem – Poets & Poetry – Have Faith – People Named Alex – Mountains – “O-U-R” Something
Ben found the first Daily Double in “Mountains” under the $1,200 clue on the 5th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $15,800, $12,200 more than Justin in second place. Ben bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.
Ranges within this mountain system include the Rif, the Saharan & the Tell show
Emmett found the last Daily Double in “Have Faith” under the $1,600 clue on the 10th pick of the round. He was in second place with $4,400 now, $17,000 less than Ben’s lead. Emmett made it a true Daily Double and guessed Isaiah. That was WRONG.
After writing the name of a prophet, English-speaking Muslims write this, “PBUH” for short show
Ben finished in the lead with a runaway $29,800. Justin was in second place with $10,000. Emmett was last with negative $2,000 and out of the game at this point. All clues were shown.
NEITHER contestants left in Final Jeopardy! got it right.
WHAT IS PROMETHIUM?
Promethium (Element #61, Pm) was named after Prometheus, the Greek Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mortals. As punishment, Prometheus was chained to a rock. An eagle dropped by and ate his liver but it grew back and guess who came back for dinner? — not just the next day, every day!
The wife of one of promethium’s discoverers originally came up with prometheum. “The name was meant to emphasize not only the method of obtaining an element using nuclear fission energy, but also the threat of punishment to the instigators of war.” The International Atomic Balance Commission officially changed the name of element #61 to “promethium” in 1950, rejecting prometheum and other candidates (illinium, florence and cyclonium). Learn more on frontiersin.org
Justin thought it was thorium. He lost $42 and finished with $9,958.
Ben crossed off promethium in favor of thorium. He didn’t bet even bet the price of a glass lunchbox so he won the game with the $29,800 he already had. Ben Chan joins the semifinals list. We’ve got one more quarterfinal to go.
2 triple stumpers from the last round:
JAZZ’ GREAT DAY IN HARLEM ($2000) A Jazz Messenger, but with a touch of “Flash Dance”, this Pittsburgh drummer once worked in steel mills by day, jazz clubs by night
PEOPLE NAMED ALEX ($800) The first Latino senator from California, Alex Padilla grew up in this L.A. area with a Spanish name
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “The Silver Screen”
He was the first actor to star in 3 films that won the Oscar for Best Picture: those of 1934, 1935 & 1939 show
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR CHANGES TO THE SHOW OR COMPLAINTS, PLEASE SEND YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO JEOPARDY!
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
Not much of a horse race, but Justin played well.
I felt good about FJ being plutonium. Oops. Never heard of promethium or thorium.
I thought for sure one of them would know Latin for “laying flat.” The “drop -ulation” clue was tougher but not that impossible.
I got FJ. What I found interesting is that Ken said he also said “thorium”. I thought the his had the correct response right there with the clue!
Also, Ben was almost mumbling. I thought it would go to the judges when his 5-syllable word sounded like 4 (I heard “polythesm”, not “polytheism”. Several times, I had to run it back, and put on the subtitles once.
It seemed like Emmett was going slowly. I was in fear that they would run out of time.
And we got a double stumper since today’s final was a tough one and it is also the third time this season where all the players wrote the same incorrect response.
It’s the third time in this tournament that we had dismissals making it three dismissals in the quarterfinals. Emmett’s daily double run-in meant that he wasn’t around for Final. But we will find out who is our last semifinalist tomorrow.