The answer is (a): The shorter stick will reach the table first, as seen in a slow-motion mpeg video by clicking your mouse on the photograph below.
The answer is very similar to the answer for Question #317. As in Question #317, although the two meter sticks have the same geometry, the dynamics of this situation does not scale. The angular acceleration of such a stick is equal to the torque divided by its moment of inertia, except that that moment of inertia and the torque must be taken about the center of the stick. The moment of inertia of a stick about its center is proportional to the square of the length of the stick, but the torque increases only linearly with length. The angular acceleration therefore is proportional inversely to the length of the stick, so the longer the stick the more slowly it accelerates, the same as for Question #317, in which the rotation is taken around the end of the stick, which is held in place.
