Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category 20th Century Physics) for Tuesday, December 14, 2021 (Season 38, Game 67):
Puzzlingly heavy & long-lived particles discovered in the 1940s were dubbed this adjective later applied to even smaller particles
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Hester Blum, an English professor at Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania
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Marti Canipe, an elementary science education professor at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona
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Alisa Hove, a botany professor at Warren Wilson University in Asheville, North Carolina
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts: Today’s semifinal between Hester, Marti, and Alisa will likely be decided on rebounds. Hester picked up 9 incorrect responses in her quarterfinal match; if that number goes down significantly, Hester has the buzzer timing to dominate proceedings today. If that doesn’t happen and Hester continues to give a lot of incorrect responses, Marti and Alisa will be in prime position to take a spot in the finals.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is strange?
More information about Final Jeopardy: (The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2021 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
The concept of strangeness in particle physics was introduced by Murray Gell-Mann, Kazuhiko Nishijima, and others to describe how particles like kaons and hyperons were created very easily but decayed much slower than expected than their larger masses would otherwise have indicated. A new “strangeness” quantity, which was also seen to be at equilibrium at the creation of these particles, was devised as an explanation. At least, that’s how I understand it—there aren’t a lot of concepts asked about on Jeopardy! that I can’t seem to get my head around, but this appears to be one of them—Wikipedia has an article about it that might help better.
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Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Alisa $13,200
Hester $4,800
Marti $2,200
Tonight’s results:
Marti $2,200 – $2,200 = $0 (What are quarks?)
Hester $4,800 – $1,200 = $3,600 (What are nano particles?)
Alisa $13,200 – $3,000 = $10,200 (What is subatomic?) (Finalist)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Alisa $3,800
Marti $1,800
Hester $1,000
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) A LECTURER $600 (clue #18)
Hester 1200 -800 (Alisa 600 Marti 2600)
2) DIFFERS BY A LETTER $1200 (clue #14)
Alisa 9400 +3000 (Marti 600 Hester 4600)
3) LET’S TALK REVOLUTION $1200 (clue #25, $7600 left on board)
Hester 7400 -2600 (Alisa 13200 Marti 2600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -70
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: 16th CENTURY ARTS $400 DIFFERS BY A LETTER $1600 $2000
Total Left On Board: $4,000
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 11 (0.16 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Alisa $11,400 Coryat, 14 correct, 3 incorrect, 25.93% in first on buzzer (14/54), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Hester $8,200 Coryat, 15 correct, 6 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (18/54), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Marti $2,200 Coryat, 11 correct, 3 incorrect, 22.22% in first on buzzer (12/54), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $21,800
Lach Trash: $16,600 (on 15 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $11,600
Alisa Hove, career statistics:
30 correct, 4 incorrect
2/3 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities)
24.32% in first on buzzer (27/111)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,000)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,200
Marti Canipe, career statistics:
28 correct, 5 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
24.32% in first on buzzer (27/111)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,000)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $6,000
Hester Blum, career statistics:
36 correct, 16 incorrect
1/4 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
38.74% in first on buzzer (43/111)
1/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,400)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $8,200
Today’s interviews:
Hester plans to purchase a 19th-century letterpress printer with her winnings.
Marti road-tripped with birds, driving them to educational programs.
Alisa teaches at a “work college”, where each student works in some way on campus.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Hester did lead on the signalling device, but much like the quarterfinal, she gave too many incorrect responses.
- Daily Double wagering near the end of the game: making a bet that neither keeps you within 50% if incorrect nor gives you the lead if correct is less than ideal; a player really needs to do one or the other.
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
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It’s strange that only one response is actually an adjective.
No offense to the three very accomplished contestants, but boy was that tough to watch. Especially after Monday’s excellent Semi-final.