Tipping Point astronomy questions.

[DeanWatson]

Now, I think we can all agree that the TV quiz Tipping Point contestants are not the higher end of the IQ spectrum.  I'm slightly amazed when asked their own name they get it right.  On the whole I have enjoyed questions like 'What part of the eye does the disease retinitis affect? - the contestants answer being 'the pupil'.  Or on what celestial body do Marquakes occur? , again contestant answer 'the Moon'.  I mean... yesssss.

 

So what was with the question earlier in the week where they asked the multiple choice question 'in 2021 which planet was discovered to be emanating X Rays? - Neptune, Uranus or Mercury?'  Now, even though I have been involved in astronomy since the age of five I didn't know, in fact I took the same educated guess as the contestant for the same reasons (amazingly) being Mercury, given that closer to the Sun its in a higher energy environment.  Now, the answer is actually Uranus as discovered by the Chandra spacecraft.  I grant that some of you will know this, some not and that's fine, a relatively obscure piece of astronomical discovery, I was fine not knowing this myself.  My point is, why ask this on Tipping Point where most are thicker than a breeze block sandwich?  What hope had they if even people well versed in astronomy didn't know this, no way to even work it out.  Were they getting a bit short of cash to pay out as prize money?

[BAZ]

Well, I'd be coming home empty handed too, I never heard that either.

[+Glafnazur]

I'd have guessed at Mercury too........

[+Bino-viewer]

23 hours ago, DeanWatson said: Were they getting a bit short of cash to pay out as prize money?

 

In all likelihood.....yes.

[+Stu]

There's a clip on YouTube of a very short lived gameshow with Jimmy Carr and Maggie Aderin-Pocock. The contestants just can't grasp the concept of the game. You can probably see the point where Maggie has a "what the heck am I doing here" moment.

[philjay]

Ooh nice, a subject close to my heart :-) The proliferation of thicko,s on tv gameshows and dumming down to the lowest common denominator of tv in general.

 

Its nice to have a real question for once on these shows. The level of questions has been reduced sifnificantly over the past decade or so maybe to match the lower knowledge levels people have.

 

Take 15 to 1 for instance. The original series, repeated a few years ago on Challenge tv, the questions were pretty hard but the recent series with Tocsvig have far simpler questions, even I get good scores on that.

Imho I reckon theres a few reasons for the profusion of lesser knowledged contestants

 

General knowledge has now passed to google. Theres no need to retain all this info when one can just google stuff.

 

Education has changed considerably for various reasons.

 

A large proportion of the population have the attention span of a goldfish.

 

Add to that the poor vetting of wannabe contestants by the show organisers.

 

Even University Challenge has got easier. At one time I was lucky to answer 2 maybe 3 questions in a show now I can answer a dozen. I dont think I have become more intelligent.

 

Sound of Phil stepping off soap box 🙂

 

Ps I would have got Uranus, I vaguely remember reading about this somewhere.

Edited September 9, 2023 by philjay

[DeanWatson]

I saw another couple of good ones on Youtube - 'How many planets in the Solar System have the letter A in their name?' - the answer being given in great confidence 'Just one - Aries'.

 

 

 

And this one is breathtaking...

 

 

[+Glafnazur]

I love the Homer one 🤣

[DeanWatson]

3 minutes ago, Glafnazur said:

I love the Homer one 🤣

Isn't it though...