Arrrgh! Curses Meitnerium! Have any of you known nearly all of the answers to all of the questions in a TD and still managed to hit sheep?
I thought sure that the sheep would be Seaborgium (locally famous) or Copernicium (recently named). I should have gone with Gadolinium, the other side of my ill-fated coin flip on that question
In a free society, the most local level of government is the individual citizen
Woof wrote:
Incorrect Answers - 14 points
Samarium (named indirectly for the Russian mining official Col. Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets) - fowlerism
I have always remembered Samarsky-Bykhovets as a "mining engineer," as it says on Wikipedia, and I would argue that that an engineer is a scientist (in this case).
Here is a quote from the Wikipedia article:
"While remaining Chief of Staff, he began teaching at Saint Petersburg Mining Institute and eventually became a member of [the] scientific council there."
Is this a fair claim?
Indeed, he was trained as a mining engineer, though in his capacity as administrator he permitted the delivery of his eponymous ore to the scientists who then analyzed it. (BTW, they were most gracious in naming it for him; that is not a very common occurrence in science). Granting that he was an engineer, I still don't feel that he qualifies as a scientist. Science and engineering are distinct disciplines, as most Universities make clear in their organization. Additionally, the in vogue acronym STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) also makes clear that distinction. I vacillated mightily over this issue, as your choice of Samarium was a devious and clever one, but in the end I just didn't feel that Samarsky's status as a scientist could be justified, either in his role in the discovery of the element in question, or in his training. If there's sufficient sentiment to the contrary, I'll most certainly consider a reversal of my decision.
Last edited by Woof on Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
Woof wrote:Unused Answers
Cerium (from Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture)
Iridium (from Iris, the Greek goddess of the rainbow)
Uranium (from Uranus the planet -- stop me when you've heard this before...)
Out of curiosity, would Palladium have been accepted? Was that what you were eluding to in the clarification of Question 1?
Yeah, I think that I would have had to accept it, as Pd is named for the asteroid Pallas, which in turn is named for Pallas Athena. Despite Pallas being an epithet of Athena, it is also the name of a Titan, so I don't see how I could have negged it in good conscience.
3. Supply the name of an element that was named for its place of discovery. The final of the nomenclature questions, but how many participants recognized that this question had the most correct answers to choose from? AP, master of the arcane, once more scores a singleton with an obscure answer.
Francium (named for France by Pierre and Marie Curie) - 5
amorris525
crazymatt1
jeff6286
Peggles
TheSpiceWeasel
Americium (named for America by Glenn Seaborg) - 4
DadofTwins
Magna
Uncle Jeff
Volante
Californium (named for California by Glenn Seaborg) - 3
Bamaman
BigDaddyJ
econgator
Terbium (named for Ytterby, Sweden, the source of the mineral yttria that yielded this element, among others) - 3
boson
seaborgium
TreehugginCowgirl
Ytterbium (see above) - 3
ChemTeacher
earendel
Turd Ferguson
Berkeleium (named for Berkeley, CA by Glenn Seaborg) - 2
Aggron
Doug527
Darmstadtium (named for Darmstadt, DE by a group at GSI) - 2
immaf
jpahk
Erbium (see Terbium) - 2
Bob78164
fowlerism
Germanium (named for Germany by Clemens Winkler in Freiburg) - 2
Creed Bratton
Vanya
Dubnium (named for Dubna, Russia by researchers at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research) - 1
goforthetie
Europium (named for Europe by Demarçay) - 1
gamawire
Gallium (named for Gallia, the Latin name for France, by Locoq de Boisbaudran) - 1
soxfan99
Hafnium (named for Hafnia, the Latin name for Copenhagen, by Coster and von Hevesy) - 1
Austin Powers
Hassium (named for Hassia, the Latin name for the German state of Hesse, by researchers at GSI) - 1
xxaaaxx
Lawrencium (named for E.O. Lawrence and discovered at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) - 1
bomtr
Scandium (named for Scandia, the Latin name for Scandinavia, by Nilson) -1
dhkendall
Yttrium (see Terbium) - 1
Paucle
DROP - 0
debramc
Unused Answers
Holmium (named for Stockholm, SE)
Lutetium (named for the Latin name for Paris, Lutetia)
Ruthenium (named for Ruthenia, the Latin name for Rus, a region that corresponds to parts of Belarus, Ukraine and Western Russia)
Incorrect Answers - 10
Inadeepdarkmine - tagNV
Rhenium (named for the Rhine river by researchers in Germany) - Randy G
4. Name an element that is gaseous at room temperature and one atmosphere of pressure. The answers to this question were among the least challenging IMO so, as expected, there was only one "incorrect" response. The lighter elements and Noble gases provide all the answers, so it comes down to gamesmanship and psychology. A surprising sheep and a shocking unused answer await.
Woof wrote:3. Supply the name of an element that was named for its place of discovery.
It's a good thing my instinct to avoid anything named for Ytterby paid off! (Well, sort of, I suppose Ytterby is in Scandinavia, but I was just thinking of steering clear of Yttrium/Erbium/Terbium/Ytterbium
"Jeopardy! is two parts luck and one part luck" - Me
"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings
Woof wrote:I just didn't feel that Samarsky's status as a scientist could be justified, either in his role in the discovery of the element in question, or in his training. If there's sufficient sentiment to the contrary, I'll most certainly consider a reversal of my decision.
Woof wrote:3. Supply the name of an element that was named for its place of discovery.
.. Incorrect Answers - 10
Rhenium (named for the Rhine river by researchers in Germany) - Randy G
Yes, exactly.... and the Rhine doesn't describe a place of discovery? I could understand if the researchers were in Mongolia and Rhenium was named to honor their fond memories of childhood, but they were in Germany.
Woof wrote:3. Supply the name of an element that was named for its place of discovery.
.. Incorrect Answers - 10
Rhenium (named for the Rhine river by researchers in Germany) - Randy G
Yes, exactly.... and the Rhine doesn't describe a place of discovery? I could understand if the researchers were in Mongolia and Rhenium was named to honor their fond memories of childhood, but they were in Germany.
Americium is suspect as well. It wasn't named for its place of discovery, but that it's below Europium on the table.
Woof wrote:3. Supply the name of an element that was named for its place of discovery.
.. Incorrect Answers - 10
Rhenium (named for the Rhine river by researchers in Germany) - Randy G
Yes, exactly.... and the Rhine doesn't describe a place of discovery? I could understand if the researchers were in Mongolia and Rhenium was named to honor their fond memories of childhood, but they were in Germany.
What province? If they were in the Rhineland, I'd give it to you. If they were in Prussia, probably not.
Woof wrote:3. Supply the name of an element that was named for its place of discovery.
.. Incorrect Answers - 10
Rhenium (named for the Rhine river by researchers in Germany) - Randy G
Yes, exactly.... and the Rhine doesn't describe a place of discovery? I could understand if the researchers were in Mongolia and Rhenium was named to honor their fond memories of childhood, but they were in Germany.
What province? If they were in the Rhineland, I'd give it to you. If they were in Prussia, probably not.
Germany is about as precise as it gets in a quick scan of the literature. I'll just kick it back to Woof to determine whether my answer lies within the spirit of the question.