TD 147: It's Elementary!

[bpmod]

PPS: Except one. I still maintain that "Weo The Wion" is comedy gold.

For some reason that brought to mind an old song...

"So smile and be thankful next time you get weighed..."

Brian

[gamawire]

For some reason that brought to mind an old song...

"So smile and be thankful next time you get weighed..."

Brian

"Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio" - speaking of comedy gold!

[bpmod]

For some reason that brought to mind an old song...

"So smile and be thankful next time you get weighed..."

Brian

"Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio" - speaking of comedy gold!

Absolutely classic.

Brian

[Woof]

Yttrium (Y) - 2
Bob78164
Paucle
Yttrium (Y) - 1
Turd Ferguson

Is one of these supposed to be sulfur (which is missing)?

My response was indeed sulfur. Amazed to see myself in a podium position for now, as I was actually happier about my answers for the last TD, where I finished last. I suspect I have a sheep or two coming up, though, so this likely won't last.

D'Oh!! Now fixed.

[Woof]

7. Certain elements of like properties have been grouped together to form categories. Some of these categories are rows on the Periodic Table, some are columns and a few are neither. Name one of these categories. None of the names denote position of row or column. For purposes of this question, I will use those categories shown on the Wikipedia page on the chemical elements.

Whew! A wordy question results form trying to make myself clear, and I still managed to confuse a few people. This was also the question with the fewest correct answers, though I did y'all a favor by spoiling one of them later on.

Alkaline earths - 7
Aggron
amorris525
DadofTwins
Doug527
econgator
jeff6286
jpahk

Metalloids - 5
Austin Powers
BigDaddyJ
bomtr
ChemTeacher
Uncle Jeff

Noble Gases - 5
Creed Bratton
dhkendall
Peggles
Turd Ferguson
Vanya

Transition Metals - 5
Bamaman
crazymatt1
immaf
seaborgium
Volante

Rare Earths* - 4
Magna
Paucle
soxfan99
TheSpiceWeasel

Lanthanides - 3 (brave souls who dared put down a spoiled answer)
fowlerism
gamawire
xxaaaxx

Halogens - 3
debramc
Randy G
TreehugginCowgirl

Alkali Metals - 1
Bob78164

DROP - 0
earendel

Unused Answers
Actinides
Non-Metals
Post-Transition Metals

Incorrect Answers - 12
Noble Metal - boson
Poor Metal - goforthetie
IgNobel gases - tagNV

* Although "Rare Earth" is not among the categories shown on the Wikipedia Periodic Table, it is an offical category defined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) so it's good enough for me. (Take that, Wikipedians!) Since it is not precisely synonymous with lanthanides (it includes Yttrium and Scandium along with the lanthanides) I considered it a separate category. You can imagine the head slap that resulted when I realized how I could have avoided my dilemma of spoiling an answer on Q9 while at the same time excluding rare earths from the list of acceptable answers. Oh, well!

Scores After Round 7
Bamaman 17
Vanya 17
gamawire 19
Paucle 20
Turd Ferguson 20
Austin Powers 22
soxfan99 23
Bob78164 24
Creed Bratton 24
Peggles 24
DadofTwins 27
earendel 27
dhkendall 29
amorris525 30
xxaaaxx 31
bomtr 32
debramc 33
Magna 33
seaborgium 33
BigDaddyJ 34
ChemTeacher 35
Volante 35
crazymatt1 36
fowlerism 37
goforthetie 37
TheSpiceWeasel 37
jeff6286 38
jpahk 39
TreehugginCowgirl 39
immaf 40
RandyG 40
Uncle Jeff 41
Aggron 42
boson 43
Doug527 45
econgator 47
tagNV 85

[Woof]

8. Name an element with an atomic number below that of Uranium (At. No. 92) that has no stable isotopes (i.e., all of its isotopes are radioactive).
The second of the elemetal properties questions proved to be the most challenging, judging from the number of drops. I'd have thought that Marie Curie/radioactivity/Radium/Francium/Polonium would be nearly Pavlovian, but evidently not... or maybe everyone else was thinking the same thing? Lots of singletons for the savvy, though.

Technetium - 7
Aggron
Austin Powers
bomtr
debramc
earendel
seaborgium
Volante

Astatine - 2
fowlerism
jpahk

Francium - 2
ChemTeacher
Paucle

Protactinium - 2
RandyG
Uncle Jeff

Radium - 2
Magna
Vanya

Radon - 2
DadofTwins
soxfan99

Actinium - 1
xxaaaxx

Bismuth - 1
boson (kudos to boson on a great get here: that fact was only recently disclosed in the scientific literature)

Polonium - 1
goforthetie

Promethium - 1
Doug527

DROP - 0
amorris525
BigDaddyJ
dhkendall
econgator
gamawire
immaf
jeff6286
TheSpiceWeasel
TreehugginCowgirl
Turd Ferguson

Unused Answers
none

Incorrect Answers - 12 points
Cerium - Creed Bratton
Cobalt - crazymatt1
Cesium - Peggles
Jovium?? - Bamaman
Praseodymium - Bob78164
Donimus ("Too radio-active for me!") - tagNV

Scores After Round 8
gamawire 19
Vanya 19
Turd Ferguson 20
Paucle 22
soxfan99 25
Austin Powers 29
Bamaman 29
DadofTwins 29
dhkendall 29
amorris525 30
xxaaaxx 32
BigDaddyJ 34
earendel 34
Magna 35
Bob78164 36
Creed Bratton 36
Peggles 36
ChemTeacher 37
TheSpiceWeasel 37
goforthetie 38
jeff6286 38
bomtr 39
fowlerism 39
TreehugginCowgirl 39
debramc 40
immaf 40
seaborgium 40
jpahk 41
RandyG 42
Volante 42
Uncle Jeff 43
boson 44
Doug527 46
econgator 47
crazymatt1 48
Aggron 49
tagNV 97

[HugoZ]

Offering up this short vid that combines both the elementary tastiness of TD 147 and the superlative cuteness of Peggles' avatar:

http://boingboing.net/2012/04/11/watch-an-adorable-3-year-old-k.html

[Woof]

9. Name one of the Lanthanide elements.
We now have a new name atop the leaderboard. Can gamawire hold on to her slim lead? The second of the Periodic Table organization questions required some rather specific knowledge, but in my defense I'd spoiled you for one answer on this question, too, and there were 15 possible responses, so a slightly educated guess stood about at 20% chance of success. One of the sheep was predictable, but the other??? And, again, lots more singletons.

Lanthanum - 6
amorris525
BigDaddyJ
DadofTwins
debramc
TheSpiceWeasel
Turd Ferguson

Dysprosium - 6
Austin Powers
bomtr
ChemTeacher
Doug527
earendel
econgator

Erbium - 2
fowlerism
jeff6286

Neodymium - 2
Bob78164
Vanya

Europium - 1
gamawire

Gadolinium - 1
boson

Lutetium - 1
Uncle Jeff

Praseodymium - 1
goforthetie

Promethium - 1
TreehugginCowgirl

Terbium - 1
xxaaaxx

DROP - 0
Bamaman
crazymatt1
jpahk
Magna
Paucle
Peggles
RandyG
soxfan99

Unused Answers
Cerium
Holmium
Samarium
Ytterbium

Incorrect Answers - 11 points
Californium (an actinide) - dhkendall
Neptunium (ditto) - seaborgium, Volante
Plutonium (ditto) - Creed Bratton
Saurium (Ce? Sm? Sorry, but not close enough) - immaf
armthrongthten - tagNV

Scores After Round 9
gamawire 20
Vanya 21
Paucle 22
soxfan99 25
Turd Ferguson 26
Bamaman 29
xxaaaxx 33
Austin Powers 35
DadofTwins 35
Magna 35
amorris525 36
Peggles 36
Bob78164 38
goforthetie 39
BigDaddyJ 40
dhkendall 40
earendel 40
jeff6286 40
TreehugginCowgirl 40
fowlerism 41
jpahk 41
RandyG 42
ChemTeacher 43
TheSpiceWeasel 43
Uncle Jeff 44
bomtr 45
boson 45
debramc 46
Creed Bratton 47
crazymatt1 48
Aggron 50
immaf 51
seaborgium 51
Doug527 52
econgator 53
Volante 53
tagNV 108

[goforthetie]

7. Certain elements of like properties have been grouped together to form categories. Some of these categories are rows on the Periodic Table, some are columns and a few are neither. Name one of these categories. None of the names denote position of row or column. For purposes of this question, I will use those categories shown on the Wikipedia page on the chemical elements.


Unused Answers
Post-Transition Metals

Incorrect Answers - 12
Poor Metal - goforthetie

"Poor metal" doesn't appear as a category on the "Chemical elements" wiki page, so you're within your rights to neg me, but the following URL does work, linking to a sub-category of post-transition metals. Any mercy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_metals#Poor_metals

[immaf]

Saurium (Ce? Sm? Sorry, but not close enough) - immaf

Yeah, I was thinking of Samarium (which would have been a singleton) except in my brain it's "the one with the name that reminds me of dinosaurs" (I don't know why). Thus -- Saurium, and an extra 10 points.

[Doug527]

Yay! My singleton has vaulted me from third-to-last to fourth-to-last after 8!

[Austin Powers]

Got lazy on Technetium and the metalloids... and it cost me.

[econgator]

Somehow, I've managed to pick 6 sheep! Damn, I'm good ....

[Creed Bratton]

It's amazing what two wrong answers in a row will do for your score...

[boson]

7. Certain elements of like properties have been grouped together to form categories. Some of these categories are rows on the Periodic Table, some are columns and a few are neither. Name one of these categories. None of the names denote position of row or column. For purposes of this question, I will use those categories shown on the Wikipedia page on the chemical elements.

Whew! A wordy question results form trying to make myself clear, and I still managed to confuse a few people. This was also the question with the fewest correct answers, though I did y'all a favor by spoiling one of them later on.

Incorrect Answers - 12
Noble Metal - boson

I guess I got too cute here. "Noble Metal" is certainly a group of elements together on the periodic table - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_metal - but perhaps not well enough defined to count. Is there any chance of an appeal to your noble (metal) nature to overturn this base (metal) ruling?

[Bamaman]

I had no idea on the radioactive question. I wanted to say Plutonium, but thought it would have a bigger number since it was named for a later discovered planet. So, keeping with that logic, I went for an element named for a planet known to the ancients. Sadly, that element does not exist.

[debramc]

Yay! My singleton has vaulted me from third-to-last to fourth-to-last after 8!

Welcome to TD...
I personally consider anything other than last place a victory, because somehow even on the few like this one where I know a right answer to all the questions, and several right answers to many of them, I still manage to pick the sheep most of the time. And drop the one that would've only cost me 1 or 2 points rather than a sheep for 11.

[RandyG]

Bismuth - 1
boson (kudos to boson on a great get here: that fact was only recently disclosed in the scientific literature)

You're saying that pink, healing, comforting Pepto Bismol is radioactive?

How could boson not get this?

[Peggles]

Offering up this short vid that combines both the elementary tastiness of TD 147 and the superlative cuteness of Peggles' avatar:

http://boingboing.net/2012/04/11/watch-an-adorable-3-year-old-k.html

I loved it. Thanks.

[Bob78164]

Aaargh! I meant protactinium, not praeseodymium, for the radioactive element, thereby costing myself 9 precious points. I really hope I finish at least that far from the podium (assuming I'm not on it). --Bob