Warm-up Round (10 Questions, 500 Points each, 14 seconds to answer after posting of Question & Choices; No clues):1. Jair Bolsonaro is the new President of:___________________.
[Choices: Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Panama, Colombia ]
2. If you are to blame for something, that means you are:_________________.
[Choices: Feasible, Rhapsodic, Culpable, Pliable, Locular ]
3. 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of this event:___________________.
[Choices: M.L.K. assassination, R.F.K. assassination, Prague Spring, Tet Offensive, Woodstock ]
4. Chinook and Atlantic are types of:__________________.
[Choices: Salmon, Squirrels, Coral, Thrush, Snakes ]
5. Which state is nicknamed "The Palmetto State"?____________________
[Choices: Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Maryland, Delaware ]
6. Artist Claude Monet is best known for painting:_____________________.
[Choices: Wine bottles, Globes, Water lilies, Ocean liners, Oak trees ]
7. In 1953, the Korean conflict ended with a:_____________________.
[Choices: United States victory, Nuclear disaster, Cease-fire armistice, Hydrogen bomb, Communist victory ]
8. Which of these would one most likely see at a tennis match?_________________
[Choices: Pick and roll, Power play, End run, Drop shot, Squeeze play ]
9. Not far from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam sits the ________________ Museum.
[Choices: Monet, Modigliani, Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh ]
10. Where does the Gulf Stream form?____________________
[Choices: Gulf of Mexico, Bay of Fundy, Bay of Bahia, Bight of Benin, Hudson Bay ]
Countdown Round (12 Questions, 1000 Points each, Points decrease rapidly from 4 to 16 seconds, and with 3 Clues): 11. "Tractable" is a synonym of:___________________.
[Choices: Stubborn, Confused, Frozen, Flighty, Obedient ]
12. Who was the Pilgrims' first Governor at Plymouth Colony?___________________
[Choices: John Carver, John Smith, William Bradford, Samuel Adams, Christopher Wren ]
13. Midwest City is a city of some 50,000 in the _________________ metropolitan area.
[Choices: Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Spokane, Little Rock, Columbus ]
14. Who wrote "Under Western Eyes", a novel about Russian revolutionaries?__________________
[Choices: Thomas Mann, Joseph Roth, Andre Gide, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Joseph Conrad ]
15. The Angra Mainyu is a destructive spirit in this religion:_____________________.
[Choices: Ojibwa, Presleytarianism, Baha'i, Zoroastrianism, Methodism ]
16. "The Return of the King" is the third and final installment of the ________________ film trilogy.
[Choices: Game of Thrones, Lion King, Lord of the Rings, Ben-hur, Star Wars ]
17. Although headquartered in Paris, Balenciaga is a fashion house that originated in:_________________.
[Choices: Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Albania, Peru ]
18. Writer Isaac Asimov created the Three Laws of:________________.
[Choices: Appreciation, Gravity, Planetary orbits, Robotics, Supply and demand ]
19. This element with six naturally occurring isotopes has an atomic number of 78:_________________.
[Choices: Tactium, Rutherfordium, Platinum, Boron, Silver ]
20. The diapason is the principal foundation stop on this instrument:____________________.
[Choices: Harp, Organ, Bass violin, Trombone, Flute ]
21. "Ramayana" is an ancient epic poem originally written in this language:_________________.
[Choices: Sanskrit, Greek, Arabic, Urdu, Celtic ]
22. This Japanese island is known for its vast flower fields:__________________.
[Choices: Madagascar, Luzon, Hokkaido, Taiwan, Zanzibar ]
Category Round (6 Questions, 1000 Points each, Points decrease from 4 to 20 seconds, and with 3 Clues; Category chosen by majority vote at each Site): 23.(a) Muscle cars v ANCIENT GREECE: It was a type of coin in ancient Greece:__________________.
[Choices: Phalanx, Obol, Helot, Crake, Etros ]
24.(a) MEDICAL CONDITIONS v The Bible: Tonic, atonic and clonic are terms for types of:___________________.
[Choices: Rashes, Dizziness, Fatigue, Itches, Seizures ]
25.(a) College gyms v LEGENDS OF JAZZ: The jazz group Supersax was founded to preserve the legacy of this jazz great:__________________.
[Choices: Louis Armstrong, Aaron Copland, Teddy Wilson, Charlie Parker, Buddy Holly ]
26.(a) THE BIBLE v Muscle cars: In the Old Testament, Jonathan, son of King Saul, was the loyal friend of the future:__________________.
[Choices: King Nebuchadnezzar, King David, King Solomon, King Herod, King Ahab ]
27.(a) Legends of jazz v MEDICAL CONDITIONS: Cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the inner:__________________.
[Choices: Canthus, Ear, Uvula, Layers of the skin, Umbilicus ]
28.(a) ANCIENT GREECE v College gyms: Under Dionysus the Elder, the city of __________________ became the most powerful Greek colony.
[Choices: Ur, Alexandria, Damascus, Carthage, Syracuse ]
Lightning Round (7 Questions: 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000 Points, but time to read & answer decreases from 15, 12, 10, 8, 7, 5 to 4 seconds):29. What is the first name of George Simenon's famous detective Inspector Maigret?_________________
[Choices: Pierre, Marcel, Jules, Andre, Jacques ]
30. Kratos and his son, Atreus, are characters in this video game series:_________________.
[Choices: Clash of Clans, Tomb Raider, Sonic the Hedgehog, Halo, God of War ]
31. Petro Poroshenko, the President of __________________, declared martial law in November 2018.
[Choices: Macedonia, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Finland, Ukraine ]
32. Bryan Adams wrote the music for the stage musical based on this hugely popular film:_______________________.
[Choices: Ghost, The Godfather, Dune, Chinatown, Pretty Woman ]
33. Celsius and Fahrenheit match a ____________ degrees.
[Choices: Minus 102, 32, Minus 40, 100, 88 ]
34. Which superheroine's real name is Janet van Dyne?___________________
[Choices: Storm, Wonder Woman, Elektra, Wasp, Poison Ivy ]
35. Which country just landed a space probe on the dark side of the Moon?________________
[Choices: Russia, Iraq, North Korea, United States, China ]
Dreaded Pyramid Round (5 Questions: 12000, 7000, 4000, 2000, 1000 Points for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Right out of 5; Time from post of Question & Choices = 16 seconds; No clues):36. In 1500, Pedro Cabral first sighted Monte Pascoal in what is now:___________________.
[Choices: The Dominican Republic, Mexico, The Florida Keys, India, Brazil ]
37. This star cluster is located in the constellation of Taurus:__________________.
[Choices: Big Dipper, Hyades, Southern Cross, Pleiades, Beehive ]
38. Both the radish and the turnip are in the same Family as the ___________________ plant.
[Choices: Mustard, Palm, Tulip, Oleander, Forsythia ]
39. Although they belong to Spain, the Canary Islands are about 60 miles off the coast of:__________________.
[Choices: Senegal, Angola, Gibraltar, Portugal, Morocco ]
40. Who was the last English monarch to be beheaded?_____________________.
[Choices: Mary II, George II, Edward III, Henry VI, Charles I ]
Final Jeopardy Question on INSECTS (50% Bonus if Right Immediately; Points decrease rapidly from 4 to 20 seconds, and with 3 Clues; 50% Deduction if Final Choice is Wrong): 41. Lacking hemoglobin as it does, insect blood is usually:___________________.
[Choices: Colorless, Purple, Red, Blue, Black ]
Answers:1. Brazil [I(REACH, LESTER) pre-called this at Buster's Bar, Ottawa ON; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jair_Bolsonaro ]
2. Culpable [I think Andrew C (GRYFON) called this first; see
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/culpable ]
3. Woodstock [Sue (SWIFT), on her 60th birthday, pre-called this right away; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock ]
4. Salmon [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon ]
5. South Carolina [see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina ]
6. Water lilies [I pre-called "Impression, Sunrise", but when the Choices appeared, I think Sue called this one right; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Lil ... net_series) and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impression,_Sunrise (I pre-called this, because the painting's title gave rise to the label "Impressionism"). ]
7. Cease-fire armistice [I think Andrew pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Ar ... _Agreement ]
8. Drop shot [I called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_shot ]
9. Van Gogh [Sue or Andrew called this first, I think; see the map at
https://thingstodoeverywhere.com/visit- ... tions.html ]
10. Gulf of Mexico [Patrick (MRRED) went "Duuh,...."; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Stream ]
11. Obedient [I first pre-called "Solvable" (as in a tractable math problem), then wrongly called "stubborn" before correcting myself with "obedient", explaining "intractable"="stubborn". I may have cost others some Points on this one; see
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/tractable ]
12. John Carver [Others called "John Smith", but I split between John Smith and William Bradford, as I did not think it was John Smith. It wasn't Bradford either (he was a governor, however); see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carv ... y_governor) and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B ... _(governor) ]
13. Oklahoma City [I split between Minneapolis and Columbus, both wrong; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwest_City,_Oklahoma ]
14. Joseph Conrad [After screwing up 3-in-a-row, I was reeling, and mistook a Clue eliminating Gide for a Clue, ending up with -250 Points. Thankfully, others salvaged some Points on this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Western_Eyes_(novel) .]
15. Zoroastrianism [I split between this and Baha'i; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angra_Mainyu ]
16. Lord of the Rings [I think Patrick or Chris (CEEZED, KAYZED) pre-called this first; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_King . An obvious one for most, but "The Path of the King" by John Buchan (Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada from 1935-1940) came to my mind; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_of_the_King for a fictional genealogy of Abraham Lincoln, and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirty-Nine_Steps for his most famous novel. ]
17. Spain [We correctly guessed this from the Spanish-appearing name; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balenciaga ]
18. Robotics [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_robotics ]
19. Platinum [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platinum ]
20. Organ [Andrew pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pipe_organ_stops ]
21. Sanskrit [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayana ]
22. Hokkaido [This was the only Japanese island of the Choices; being the most northern and coldest of the 4 main Japanese islands, it would not have been my first guess if Honshu, Kyushu or Shikoku had also appeared as a Choice (although maybe it has more flat land available for growing flowers). See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokkaido and
https://www.kyuhoshi.com/tag/flower-season-in-hokkaido/ ]
23.(a) Obol [Chris pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obol_(coin) ]
24.(a) Seizures [Chris got 1000 Points as CEEZED and as KAYZED, Andrew 665 Points, and Dave as TULADI 513 Points; the rest of us struck out, with 309 or fewer Points after the third Clue. See the section "Generalized seizures" at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epileptic_seizure .]
25.(a) Charlie Parker [We correctly went with the only saxophonist of the Choices; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersax ]
26.(a) King David [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_and_Jonathan ]
27.(a) Layers of the skin [Sue pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulitis ]
28.(a) Syracuse [I pre-called this one, as it was the only Greek colony I could think of (in the days of independent Greek city states); see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysius_I_of_Syracuse (note the spelling of the name). ]
29. Jules [John (REDHRS), playing for the first time with us, guessed this right, unlike most of the rest of us; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Maigret ]
30. God of War [I think Patrick called this one; see the first 2 paragraphs at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kratos_(God_of_War) ]
31. Ukraine [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro_Poroshenko , and the section "Etymology" at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine for the story of the name of the country.]
32. Pretty Woman [I guessed wrong on this one after I heard a call for "Ghost"; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Woman:_The_Musical ]
33. Minus 40 [Andrew pre-called this one; Ottawa ON had reached -25 Celsius = -13 Fahrenheit, becoming the coldest national capital yesterday; see
http://www.onlineconversion.com/faq_11.htm ]
34. Wasp [I guessed wrong on this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasp_(comics) ]
35. China [We all got this in time (within 4 seconds); see the section "Exploration" at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_side_of_the_Moon ]
36. Brazil [I pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Alvares_Cabral and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Pascoal ]
37. Pleiades [I pre-called this one, and then pre-called "Hyades" as well. When the 5 Choices appeared, I instantly saw "Pleiades" as Choice #4, and called it. Just as the screen changed for the next Question, I saw "Hyades" as Choice #2. Perhaps this bad Question-preparation explains why the top Site and Player scores did not appear at the end of the SHOWDOWN Game at Buster's Bar, and maybe system-wide. Almost as bad as refs missing a pass-interference call in the Rams/Saints NFC title game, for strong Sites that actually knew and went with "Hyades" without reading further down the list of Choices and noticing a second right Answer for the same Question. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyades_(star_cluster) . Yes, the Pleiades is the most beautiful naked-eye open cluster of stars, but the larger, more-spread-out Hyades open cluster is also prominent, in the base of the two horns of Taurus the Bull which resemble the logo of the Kansas City Chiefs (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logos_and ... ity_Chiefs ). ]
38. Mustard [I pre-called this one; see the section "Uses" at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassicaceae ]
39. Morocco [Andrew pre-called this one; see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_Islands ]
40. Charles I [I pre-called this one, a gimme, since he is the only English monarch beheaded; see
http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question125686.html and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England . Mary Queen of Scots was never Queen of England; Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were wives of the monarch Henry VIII, and Lady Jane Grey was never a fully accepted monarch. All pre-dated Charles I at any rate.]
41. Colorless [I pre-called this one; see
http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=338 and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemolymph . I knew that some spiders have blue or green blood due to copper-containing proteins, somewhat like Vulcans (or half-Vulcans like Mr. Spock); see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemocyanin and
https://www.quora.com/Why-was-Spocks-blood-green .
The colour of copper (II) chloride solution varies from yellow-green to green to blue as more and more water is added to the crystals (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper(II)_chloride ).
This is explained by Crystal Field Theory (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_field_theory ), which works for transition metal ions with partially filled d orbitals. Copper is element no. 29, with a total of 29 electrons. The Cu2+ ion has only 27 electrons, 18 in the stable Ar configuration of 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 3s^2 2p^6 , and 9 electrons which in the ground electronic state are in the five 3d orbitals.
In dilute aqueous solution, the Cu2+ ion is surrounded by six polar water molecules, written as Cu2+(aq), with the slightly negative oxygen atoms attracted to the positive metal ion. Mathematically, these water molecules may be considered small negative charges oriented along the mutually perpendicular x- , y- and z-axes. Mathematically, three of the 3d orbitals have lobes pointing
between the axes, so electrons in these orbitals experience less repulsion from the negative charges of the water molecules, compared to electrons in the other two 3d orbitals that have lobes pointing
along the axes.
So for lowest energy in the ground electronic state, six of the 9 electrons in the 3d orbitals will fill the three 3d orbitals pointing between the axes, with spins paired. The remaining three electrons fill the higher-energy 3d orbitals, two with spins paired in one of them, and the last one in the remaining 3d orbital.
A quantum jump of an electron from one of the three lower-energy filled 3d orbitals to the half-filled upper energy level corresponds to absorption of a photon (a particle of light) in the visible region of the spectrum. Absorption of a red photon means that blue is not absorbed, so dilute Cu2+(aq) appears blue in white light.
When the amount of water is very low (i.e. in concentrated CuCl2 solution), the Cu2+ ion is surrounded tetrahedrally, not octahedrally, by 4 Cl- ions. The 4 vertices of a tetrahedron can be considered alternating corners of a cube. If the cube is mathematically considered with faces perpendicular to the x-, y- and z-axes, then the three 3d orbitals pointing between the axes will point toward Cl- ions, negative charges that repel electrons in those 3d orbitals. So this time, electrons in 3d orbitals will avoid the negative charges of the Cl- ions by preferring to go into the two 3d orbitals that point along the x-, y- and z-axes. So the order of increasing energy of 3d orbitals is reversed. But the energy gap between the two sets of 3d orbitals is also affected. If higher energy (bluer) photons are absorbed, then the colour that is not absorbed will be more red than blue, i.e. green or yellow-green.
A similar explanation for the colour of Fe2+(aq) and Fe3+(aq) ions, which contain six and five electrons in 3d orbitals, respectively. Transitions between lower and higher-energy 3d orbitals involve absorption of part of the visible spectrum, explaining the pale green and yellow colours of the solutions. Ditto for Ni2+(aq), Co2+(aq), Mn2+(aq) which are bright green, reddish-pink, and pale pink in colour.
Zinc solutions are colourless because the Zn2+ ion has ten electrons which fill all five of the 3d orbitals, and transitions involving half-filled orbitals is not possible (the Pauli Exlusion Principle limits the number of electrons in any orbital to two, and they must have spins paired).
All of this is to rationalize why hemoglobin containing Fe2+ ions is red in our blood, and why hemocyanin is blue or green in the blood of the horseshoe crab, crustaceans, the tarantula, the emperor scorpion, centipede,etc.
The only problem, as I see it, is that chlorophyll contains a porphyrin ring system almost identical to that in heme in hemoglobin, but contains the Mg2+ ion. Magnesium is not a transition metal, and the electron configuration of the Mg2+ ion is 1s^2 2s^2 2p^6 for the ten electrons in the ion of element no. 12. There are no 3d electrons in the Mg2+ ion, and the 3d unfilled orbitals are way higher in energy (in the third shell, and higher than the 3s and 3p empty orbitals). So why is chlorophyll green (it absorbs red light, and at right angles to a beam of white light you might be able to see a dim red fluorescence)?
See
https://www.quirkyscience.com/comparing ... lorophyll/ , the section "Structure" at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoglobin , and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heme .
The colour of chlorophyll may be due to the electronic structure of the porphyrin ring (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyrin ), with alternating double- and single-carbon-carbon bonds, which means 18 electrons in delocalized pi molecular bonding orbitals. An electron jump to a higher energy pi* anti-bonding molecular orbital could involve a photon of visible light, explaining the colour.
Colours in molecules containing conjugated systems (alternating carbon-carbon double and single bonds) explain lycopene (a bright red carotene in tomatoes), vitamin A, retinal, and visual purple (rhodopsin). See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopene ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_A ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/Retinal and
https://en.wikipedia.org/Rhodopsin .
The latter article explains how a visible light photon absorbed by visual purple involves a quantum jump of an electron in a pi molecular orbital to a pi* anti-bonding molecular orbital, allowing for rotation around a carbon-carbon bond (carbon-carbon double bonds resist free rotation because it would mean reducing the sideways overlap of atomic p orbitals which form the second bond in a double bond). The resulting change in shape of the molecule is the fundamental chemical reaction involved in sight.
.......................................................
So maybe the colours of hemoglobin and hemocyanin are not so simply explained by the metal ions contained within, although their oxygen-carrying capacity does require transition metal ions which can form loose bonds with more than 4 surrounding atoms (the Mg2+ ion in chlorophyll has 8 electrons in its second shell, the maximum allowed by the Pauli Exclusion Principle, but Fe and Cu in the first transition series have partially filled third shells which can hold a maximum of 18 electrons, not 8).
For example, the carbon monoxide molecule, CO, may be represented by :C=O:: , where the = represents 4 electrons in a carbon-oxygen double bond, the :: represents the other 4 electrons in the second shell of the oxygen atom (a total of 6 for the oxygen atom) in non-bonding orbitals, and the : represents the other 2 electrons in the second shell of the carbon atom (a total of 4 for the carbon atom). In hemoglobin, the Fe2+ ion is pinned inside the flat heme portion of hemoglobin by 4 atoms of the porphyrin ring system, and held on the back by another atom. The sixth side is open for reversible attachment to an oxygen (O2) molecule. But the : electrons of the :C=O:: molecule are negative charges attracted to the positive Fe2+ ion , so even a small amount of carbon monoxide can tie up all the hemoglobin in your blood, leading to death. We have never evolved the ability to smell carbon monoxide, so we can be suffocated without warning (except for wooziness).]
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
