Elemental Shenanigans
What is the most electronegative element?
Fluorine.
Which plant was used by Gregor Mendel to study genetic variation?
Pea plants.
Which drug infamously caused birth defects due to its (S)-enantiomer?
Thalidomide.
What was the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for?
Metal-organic frameworks.
What is the strongest fundamental force?
The strong (nuclear) force.
Which element causes bananas to be radioactive?
Potassium (potassium-40 in particular).
Which is the only achiral amino acid?
Which earth metal is required to make a Grignard reagent?
Magnesium.
Which scientist was nominated for the Nobel Prize over 40 times?
Gilbert Lewis
(Lewis acid, Lewis structure, etc.)
What is the SI unit for luminous intensity?
The candela.
What is the origin for the elemental symbol of tungsten?
Wolfram/wolframite.
What percent of all animals on Earth are beetles?
(Plus or minus 10 percent)
Approximately 25%.
Which reaction is at least partially responsible for enabling global population growth?
The Haber process.
Of the people who have won multiple Nobel Prizes, how many were NOT chemists?
One. (John Bardeen)
What is the term used to refer to parts of the universe with little or no galaxies?
Voids (or supervoids).
In what country was oganesson first synthesized?
Russia (JINR, near Moscow).
What does the acronym NPK stand for in fertilizer?
Nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium
Which chemical reaction was used in the development of sulfa drugs?
Azo coupling.
Which Nobel Prize-winning chemist invented PCR and also denies that AIDS is caused by HIV?
Kary Mullis
(Fun fact: he went to KUMC)
What is the counterpart to the Big Bang which describes the contraction and collapse of the universe?
The Big Crunch.
What is the element directly below Iodine?
Astatine.
What animal has the highest blood pressure?
The Wöhler synthesis arguably founded organic chemistry. What did it produce?
Urea.
Who won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature?
László Krasznahorkai
Lev Landau.