SCIENCE TRIVIA

Easy Questions
1. Question: Ascorbic acid is something which many of us consume
virtually every day. By what name is ascorbic acid better known?
Vitamin C.
Sources:
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1001-vitamin
%20c%20ascorbic%20acid.aspx?activeingredientid=1001
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/vitamin-c-ascorbic-acid
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/vitamin-C/supplemental-forms
2. Question: What is created as a result of the chemical reaction of a
sodium and water mixture?
Fire.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODf_sPexS2Q
http://www2.uni-siegen.de/~pci/versuche/english/v44-1-1.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_ocr_pre_2011/periodi
c_table/group1rev3.shtml
3. Question: German physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit, in the early 18th
century, called 32 degrees the freezing point of water. Zero degrees on his
scale represented the freezing point of what?
1. Nitrogen
2. Oxygen
3. SALT WATER - Equal ice-salt mixture
Sources:
http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/temperature_scale.html
http://highschoolenergy.acs.org/content/hsef/en/what-isenergy/thermometers.html

4. Question: What name is given to the darkest part of a shadow cast by

the earth or moon during an eclipse?
UMBRA
Sources:
www.britannica.com/topic/umbra-eclipse
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit2/eclipses.html
http://thesciencedictionary.org/umbra/

6. Question: ACETYLSALICYLIC ACID is used to treat pain, fever, and

inflammation. What is it commonly known as?
Aspirin or paracetamol.
Sources:
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/aspirin
http://www.medicinenet.com/acetylsalicylic_acid/article.htm
http://www.drugs.com/ppa/aspirin-acetylsalicylic-acid-asa.html
7. Question: What scale was developed in 1935 at the California Institute
of Technology to measure the relative magnitudes of earthquakes?
The Richter Scale
Sources:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-was-the-richter-scale/
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/glossary/?term=Richter%20scale
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Richter_Scale
20. Question: What is the shape of a DNA molecule usually called?
DOUBLE HELIX
Sources:
https://www.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/dna_double_helix/

http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/double-helix
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/apr/25/dna-double-helix-60years-biological-revolution

8. Question: In April and May, 1961, the first two astronauts were
launched into space; one Russian and one American. Can you name them?
YURI GAGARIN
ALAN SHEPARD, JR.
Sources:
https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1939.html
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1118.html
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-american-in-space
9. Question: What's the scientific name for the unit of heat that raises the
temperature of one gram of water by one degree?
Calorie
Sources:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/calorie
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calorie
http://www.britannica.com/science/calorie

10. Question: In 1962, European countries joined forces to establish an

international astronomical project. They set up a space observatory, with some
of the most powerful telescopes in the world, at La Silla, in which southern
country?

CHILE
Sources:
https://www.eso.org/public/archives/books/pdfsm/book_0051.pdf
www.conicyt.cl/astronomia/files/2013/11/Roadmap_Astronomia_v3.pdf

www.ph.unimelb.edu.au/~rwebster/nca/mtr_arc.doc

13. Question: Chlorophyll helps plants to obtain energy from light by what
process?
Photosynthesis
Sources:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss3/pigments.html
http://www.life.illinois.edu/govindjee/Electronic
%20Publications/1965/1965_Rabinowitch_Gov.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_ocr_gateway/green_w
orld/leavesrev3.shtml

17. Question: In computer terminology, a "bit" is a single unit of digital

data. A bit consists of how many values? What are these values?
TWO.
ZERO and ONE.

Sources:
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/bit-binary-digit
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~fgandon/documents/lecture/uk1999/binary/Hand
Out.pdf
http://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/soco/projects/199900/information-theory/bits_and_binary_digits_3.html

18. Question: What contracting membrane regulates the amount of light

entering the eye?
IRIS

Sources:
http://www.britannica.com/science/iris-eye
http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/picture-of-the-eyes
http://www.kellogg.umich.edu/patientcare/conditions/anatomy.html

Hard Questions
19. Question: What do you call the fundamental unit of matter smaller
than an electron? It is also the name of a soft, creamy European cheese.
QUARK
Sources:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/quark
https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/news/index.php?post=2015-10-23:152707:554
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quark
http://www.cheesemaking.com/Quark.html

14. Question: Dr. Denton Cooley of Houston, Texas, successfully

implanted this first artificial organ in 1969. What was this organ?
ARTIFICIAL HEART
Sources:
http://www.texasheart.org/AboutUs/History/cooley.cfm
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/health/27docs.html?_r=0
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1357519/Worlds-artificial-heartbeat-days-1969.html
11. Question: Which planet in our solar system has the shortest day making one rotation about its axis every 10 hours or so? Is it Mercury or
Jupiter?
JUPITER
Sources:

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/planet-with-theshortest-day
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/days/en/
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/89-How-long-is-a-day-on-Jupiter12. Question: Named after a 19th-century Austrian physicist, what effect
causes the sound of a moving object to change its pitch as it approaches
then passes you?
Doppler Effect
Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/origins/redshiftrev2.s
html
http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/projects/vss/docs/communications/3what-is-the-doppler-effect.html
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/light/doppler.html
5. Question: Radio can be broadcast on the AM or FM bands. What do AM
and FM stand for?
AMPLITUDE MODULATION
FREQUENCY MODULATION
Sources:
https://www.standrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/RadCom/part12/page1.html
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/audio/bcast.html
http://fas.org/man/dod-101/navy/docs/es310/FM.htm
15. Question: What is the name of the constellation formed by the seven
brightest stars in Ursa Minor, one of which is Polaris, the North Star?
Little Dipper
Sources:
http://earthsky.org/tonight/recognize-the-big-dipper-and-little-dipper
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Ursa_Minor.h
tml

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110514.html