Warning: This page contains spoilers for the March 5, 2024, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Chemical Elements) for Tuesday, March 5, 2024 (Season 40, Game 127):
Isolated in 1945 during uranium fission research, it was named for an ancient deity to suggest humans gaining a new power
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Emmett Stanton, a freelance writer from Baltimore, Maryland
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Justin Bolsen, a public policy economics student at Brown University from Canton, Georgia
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Ben Chan, a philosophy professor from Green Bay, Wisconsin
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Quarterfinal #8 in this Tournament of Champions where nobody is safe features Ben Chan, Justin Bolsen, and Emmett Stanton. Ben was a 9-day champion, while Justin won last winter’s High School Reunion Tournament and Emmett Stanton was a 3-day champion from early in Season 39. The prediction model does think that Ben is a favorite today—but I should also remind everyone that “favorite” still just means that, per the prediction model, that Ben still just has a 47% chance of winning. As this tournament has proven, the variance in Jeopardy! at this level is exceptionally high.
One thing to look out for in today’s game: Ben’s 12th correct response will put him up to 300 career correct responses and make him the 38th member of “The 300 Club”—a milestone that is important to him.
I should also mention that there is a chance that today’s results will be slightly delayed due to my possible inability to watch the show when I usually do.
Another reminder that I have started a Sunday mailbag column where I answer fan & viewer questions regarding the show. If you have a question, feel free to send it to mailbag@thejeopardyfan.com!
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is promethium?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2024 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
The element now known as promethium was first produced at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, its isolation was discovered when analyzing elements found in a nuclear reactor after irradiating uranium fuel. While it is incredibly rare in nature, it gained use as a safer alternative to radium in luminous paints.
The element was named after Prometheus, who in Greek mythology stole fire from the gods to give to humanity.
This should be a straightforward Final Jeopardy to anyone familiar with the periodic table and the names of the elements.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, March 5, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(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, thanks to getting a True Daily Double correct, held a lead after 15 clues (and got 6 correct responses away from 300).
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Ben 6 correct 1 incorrect
Emmett 4 correct 0 incorrect
Justin 3 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Emmett took a train trip from Baltimore to Seattle where he met up with Martha Bath.
Justin had a huge watch party when he won.
Ben upgraded to glass lunch containers with his winnings.
The second half of the opening round saw Ben extend his lead with another 8 correct responses (bringing his career total up to 302).
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Ben 14 correct 1 incorrect
Emmett 7 correct 1 incorrect
Justin 4 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Ben $11,400
Emmett $3,200
Justin $1,600
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Jazz’ Great Day In Harlem; Poets & Poetry; Have Faith; People Named Alex; Mountains; “O-U-R” Something)
Ben got to the first Daily Double and picked up $4,000; meanwhile, Emmett’s attempt on the last one to get back into contention ended poorly; unfortunately, he ended up in the red. Ben was in control of this one start-to-finish, though, as he cruised to a runaway over Justin.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Ben 28 correct 1 incorrect
Justin 12 correct 2 incorrect
Emmett 9 correct 4 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Ben $29,800
Justin $10,000
Emmett -$2,000
As was predicted by some of my commenters, both players went for thorium. Ben’s runaway puts him into the semifinals!
Tonight’s results:
Emmett -$2,000 (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy)
Justin $10,000 – $42 = $9,958 (What is thorium good luck ji godfather-Ben Chan)
Ben $29,800 – $0 = $29,800 (What is thorium? promethium??) (Semi-Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) THE ANIMAL KINGDOM $600 (clue #8)
Ben 3600 +3600 (Justin 0 Emmett 1400)
2) MOUNTAINS $1200 (clue #5)
Ben 15800 +4000 (Justin 3600 Emmett 3200)
3) HAVE FAITH $1600 (clue #10, $20000 left on board)
Emmett 4400 -4400 (Ben 21400 Justin 3600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 25
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Ben 4 5 3 4 5 3*
Justin
Emmett 4 4
DJ! Round:
Ben 4 3 3* 4 3
Justin 5 4
Emmett 5 5 4*
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Ben 3.73
Justin 4.50
Emmett 4.40
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 0 (0.00 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Ben $24,000 Coryat, 28 correct, 1 incorrect, 43.86% in first on buzzer (25/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Justin $10,000 Coryat, 12 correct, 2 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Emmett $2,400 Coryat, 9 correct, 4 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $36,400
Lach Trash: $11,200 (on 10 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,400
Lead Changes: 1
Times Tied: 1
Player Statistics:
Ben Chan, career statistics:
316 correct, 28 incorrect
12/16 on rebound attempts (on 44 rebound opportunities)
46.40% in first on buzzer (290/625)
20/27 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $37,405)
8/11 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $23,182
Justin Bolsen, career statistics:
135 correct, 20 incorrect
7/10 on rebound attempts (on 31 rebound opportunities)
32.58% in first on buzzer (130/399)
7/9 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,701)
3/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,343
Emmett Stanton, career statistics:
82 correct, 14 incorrect
6/6 on rebound attempts (on 23 rebound opportunities)
27.72% in first on buzzer (79/285)
4/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,600)
3/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,320
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Ben $29,800 Justin $10,000 Emmett -$2,000)
Ben: You’ve got a runaway. You might as well bet $0. (Actual bet: $0)
Justin: Bet whatever you like. (Actual bet: $42)
Emmett: (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy)
Updated ToC odds:
Ben +430
Luigi +490
Jared +540
Yogesh +570
Emily +810
Ike +1200
Brian +1500
David +1500
Troy +1800
Sean +3200
Deb +11000
Finals length odds:
3 games: +700
4 games: +310
5 games: +210
6 games: +300
7 games: +720
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“Ancient deity” led me to Pallas Athena, so I guessed “What is palladium?”
My concern was whether to include the Titans as deities. But since Vulcanium isn’t a thing, I went with the Titan, and chose Promethium.
The problem with this clue is if you know nuclear physics, you’ll very likely get negbaited into thorium, which is the first product on the decay chain of uranium.
Precisely. I went for thorium as well.
Like yesterday when the professor knew too much Roman Lit.
Except decay is not the same as fission. Thorium, being a high-atomic number element, is not a fission product. It is also naturally occurring, meaning its discovery came long before the 1940s. This nuclear engineer knew it was promethium. Congrats to Ben!
Immediately thought of Prometheus, but I don’t know the periodic table for shit, so I said to myself that there wasn’t any element along those lines, and went with Plutonium. SAD!😅
I started off like you did, but knew that I did not know all the elements in the periodic table so just took the ‘ium’ from Uranium and Plutonium and correctly got ‘promethium’.
This just to say — I do love that there are so many J! stats, and the 300 Club is in my favorite stat! Maybe it’s because my baseball fandom pre-dates advanced sabrmetrics, and the 300 Club reminds me of comforting old-timey counting stats.
Keep up the great work, Andy!
Congrats on the win, Ben! Wishing retroactive good luck for you in the semis!
Not to mention a perfect game in bowling!
Ah yes, a perfect game in bowling is 300. I tried my darndest to get one, but never did. My best ever was 276. As I am sure you know, it’s 12 strikes in a game for a 300 and I had the front 9 strikes twice.
Awesome win Ben! 🙂 I definitely loved the old-timey counting stats as well and haven’t kept up nearly as much with the advent of advanced sabrmetrics. Often times, less is more and I say that as a stats nerd. And yes, the 300 Club is an easy to keep up with stat and not too many contestants have achieved what you have. Keep it running and perhaps the 400 Club is coming!
Retro good luck in Semifinal #1 on Thursday!
P.S. – Go Pack Go next season!
Got this instantly, although I will admit that I was only able to single out promethium because I totally forgot thorium existed. 🙃
If Ben can get through the Jared-Ike or the Luigi-Brian draw in the semifinals, I really like his chances in the finals… but we’ll just have to wait and see!
It’s the Jared-Ike draw for Ben.
That leaves the winner tomorrow going against Luigi and Brian. The fortunate thing about this tournament being so unpredictable is that even though an initial inclination is to think that the show is tipping that Troy will be that winner, that is very far from certain.
In addition to knowing the perodic table, or, the names of elements. might I suggest knowing mythology as a way to get to promethium? Unfortunatly. none of these worked for me. I came up with an element named for Vulcan, which there apparently isn’t one.
While reading the clue, the first thing to pop into my mind was the Titans. From there, it was easy to narrow it down to Prometheus and, thus, promethium. Looks like Ben had a dilemna of choosing Thor or Prometheus. Of oourse, it didn’t really matter in a runaway game and bet of zero.
I grew up around 100 miles from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) but have never visited there. Unfortunately my correct response of promethium was just an educated guess, but did any of you know that the most recently discovered element in the Periodic table is Tennessine, named for Tennessee? The final step in discovery took place in Russia but was a collaboration with the University of Tennessee (Knoxville), Vanderbilt University (Nashville) and ORNL [where the origin element it was produced from was specifically created for that purpose].
Actually it has been the correct response or part of a clue three times already [twice in 2023], but I just couldn’t resist throwing in this information since it is kind of related to today’s FJ! topic.
🙂
Okay, off to a bad start in FJ for the week. O for 2. I guess I needed to be Walter White today! 😉
Retro congrats on the big Runaway win Ben! I had you winning today and am glad that I didn’t jinx you. I’m now 2 of 8 on my guesses to win here in the Quarterfinals. Not so good. I have Troy Meyer winning tomorrow. I look forward to seeing this match play out. Deb is highly charismatic and Sean is highly competitive and I saw his 3 game winning streak in person.
It will be a real quick turnaround for us to see Ben again, as he’s in Semifinal #1 on Thursday, from Lectern #2. His opponents are Jared Watson (Lectern #1) and Ike Barinholtz (Lectern #3).
Should be good stuff! 🙂