Science Trivia Questions XVI

Position your cursor over the question mark found beside each question for the answer.


The CIA is believed to have targeted Fidel Castro with this toxic element, also used as a murder weapon in Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse. What is this 81st element?

       a. Cadmium
       b. Thallium
       c. Arsenic
       d. Mercury


Honda built the first humanoid robot capable of walking, calling the process "advanced step-in mobility". But what did they name the robot?

       a. Grio
       b. Asimo
       c. Aibo
       d. Kismet


In 2004, a potential tenth planet was named Sedna, for a sea goddess in whose legends?

       a. Inuit (Eskimos)
       b. Mayans
       c. Vikings
       d. Celtic


The year the Wright brothers actually flew, they kept it quiet, because newspapers were laughing at whose failed attempts?

       a. Tennessee Williams
       b. Samuel Langley
       c. Henry Ford
       d. Thomas Edison


In 1909, Louis Bleriot won £1000 for being the first person to fly across what body of water?

       a. English Channel
       b. Lake Superior
       c. Atlantic Ocean
       d. Mediterranean Sea


According to Isaac Newton's first law of motion, what happens to a body in motion, thanks to inertia?

       a. It slows down
       b. It speeds up
       c. It stays in motion
       d. It stops


Based on its Messier number, Andromeda is known scientifically as M31. What is it?

       a. A star
       b. A constellation
       c. A galaxy
       d. An asteroid


In its pure form, what metal has the highest thermal conductivity, highest optical reflectivity and lowest contact resistance?

       a. Copper
       b. Aluminum
       c. Silver
       d. Graphite


Based in New Mexico, Ed Roberts sold kits for what is called the first PC, even though you had to build it yourself. What was it?

       a. Apple II
       b. TRS-80
       c. Altair-8800
       d. Commodore 64


John Harrison, a barely educated craftsman, invented a H-4 chronometer that beat out London's smartest scientists to win a £20,000 prize for doing something. What?

       a. Determining longitude
       b. Setting standard time
       c. Dating fossils
       d. Calculating the speed of light


Often called the first roller coaster, the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway rocketed along at 6 mph, and was built by a preacher named LeMarcus Thompson to keep people away from what location's beer halls?

       a. Coney Island
       b. Las Vegas
       c. Atlantic City
       d. Fort Lauderdale


Where would you find a plane's empennage?

       a. Underneath it
       b. Tail
       c. Wings
       d. Cockpit


In what century did the Montgolfier brothers make their famous balloon ride over Paris?

       a. 1500s
       b. 1600s
       c. 1700s
       d. 1900s


Al Stewart sold ferric hexacyanoferrate, which people added to their laundry to combat yellowing. What is this chemical?

       a. Danish red
       b. American white
       c. Prussian blue
       d. Asian yellow


When are astronomers likely to observe a peculiar phenomenon called Baily's beads?

       a. During a solar eclipse
       b. During a supernova
       c. During the landing of a Martian probe
       d. During the Northern Lights




Click Here To Print This Quiz

Share this site with others