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.
For which discovery did Einstein win the Nobel Prize for?
The photoelectric effect.
How many fundamental forces are there?
Four (Gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear forces).
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.
What was the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for?
Protein structure prediction.
What kind of scattering causes the color of the sky?
Rayleigh scattering.
What is the most abundant element in the atmosphere.
Nitrogen.
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.
Which scientist was nominated for the Nobel Prize over 40 times?
Gilbert Lewis
(Lewis acid, Lewis structure, etc.)
What is the term used to refer to parts of the universe with little or no galaxies?
Voids (or supervoids).
What is the origin for the elemental symbol of tungsten?
Wolfram/wolframite.
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.
In what country was oganesson first synthesized?
Russia (JINR, near Moscow).
What animal has the highest blood pressure?
The Wöhler synthesis arguably founded organic chemistry. What did it produce?
Urea.
Of the people who have won multiple Nobel Prizes, how many were NOT chemists?
One. (John Bardeen)
Lev Landau.