Nature
What limits the maximum height of trees?
A. Wind stress
B. Nutrient availability
C. Gravity and water transport
D. Atmospheric oxygen levels
C. Gravity and water transport
As trees grow taller, gravity and friction make it increasingly difficult to transport water from roots to leaves.
What is the most common element in the universe?
A. Helium
B. Oxygen
C. Hydrogen
D. Carbon
C. Hydrogen
The most common element in the universe is Hydrogen, making up about 74% of its mass, followed by Helium at around 24%, with all other elements making up the remaining small percentage.
A bolt of lightning is hotter than the surface of the Sun.
True
A bolt of lightning is significantly hotter than the surface of the Sun, reaching temperatures around 50,000°F (30,000°C), which is about five times hotter than the Sun's surface of roughly 10,000°F (6,000°C).
The Treaty of Versailles formally ended which conflict?
A. World War I
B. World War II
C. Franco-Prussian War
D. Napoleonic Wars
A. World War I
Which of the following is not classified as a fundamental force of nature?
A. Electromagnetism
B. Gravity
C. Nuclear fusion
D. Strong nuclear force
C. Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion is a process, not a force.
What layer of the atmosphere contains the ozone layer?
A. Troposphere
B. Stratosphere
C. Mesosphere
D. Thermosphere
B. Stratosphere
The ozone layer is located in the stratosphere, the second layer of Earth's atmosphere, stretching roughly 10 to 50 kilometers (6 to 31 miles) above the surface.
Which space probe was the first to leave the Solar System?
A. Voyager 1
B. Voyager 2
C. Pioneer 10
D. New Horizons
C. Pioneer 10
Pioneer 10 officially left the solar system on June 13, 1983, when it crossed the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first human-made object to venture beyond the planets and onto a path for interstellar space. Its last signal was January 23, 2003, from over 7.6 billion miles away.
Voyager 1 was the first to reach interstellar space (beyond the Sun's plasma bubble, the heliosphere) in 2012. Even though Pioneer 10 was launched earlier and had a trajectory to escape, it was outpaced by Voyager 1 in distance and speed.
The Earth is closer to the Sun in summer than in winter.
False
The Earth is closer to the Sun in the Northern Hemisphere's winter (around January) and farthest away in the Northern Hemisphere's summer (around July).
Who was the first Roman emperor?
A. Julius Caesar
B. Augustus
C. Tiberius
D. Romulus Augustulus
B. Augustus
The Roman Empire was founded when Augustus Caesar proclaimed himself the first emperor of Rome in 31 BC and came to an end with the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
What is the most abundant protein in the human body?
A. Keratin
B. Actin
C. Myosin
D. Collagen
D. Collagen
The most abundant protein in the human body is collagen, making up about 30% of the total protein mass.
Which organism is a primary producer in an ecosystem?
A. Hawk
B. Mushroom
C. Grass
D. Snake
C. Grass
Grass is a primary producer in ecosystems like grasslands because it creates its own food (energy) from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.
What primarily determines whether a star will end its life as a neutron star or a black hole?
A. Temperature
B. Rotation speed
C. Initial mass
D. Chemical composition
C. Initial mass
The primary factor determining if a star becomes a neutron star or black hole is the mass of its core after it explodes in a supernova.
If the core's mass is below this limit but above ~1.4 solar masses, it forms a dense neutron star. If it's above the TOV limit, gravity overwhelms all other forces, collapsing it into a black hole.
Humans only use about 10% of their brains.
False
This myth refuses to die. In reality, brain scans show we use virtually all of our brain, with most areas active all the time, even during sleep.
Which war was fought first?
A. American Revolutionary War
B. Seven Years’ War
C. Napoleonic Wars
D. War of 1812
B. Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was fought globally from 1754 to 1763.
The U.S. Census has a diversity index, which represents the probability that, if two random people meet, they will be of different races or ethnicities from each other. What is the most diverse state by this definition?
A. California
B. New York
C. Hawaii
D. Florida
C. Hawaii
Hawaii consistently ranks as the most diverse U.S. state by the Diversity Index, with scores around 76%.
Which animal has the highest known blood pressure?
A. Elephant
B. Blue whale
C. Giraffe
D. Crocodile
C. Giraffe
Giraffes require extremely high blood pressure to pump blood up their long necks to the brain.
Which statement about the Moon’s rotation is correct?
A. The Moon does not rotate
B. The Moon rotates once per orbit around Earth
C. The Moon rotates faster than it orbits
D. The Moon’s rotation is unrelated to tides
B. The Moon rotates once per orbit around Earth
The Moon rotates exactly once on its axis for every orbit it completes around Earth, a phenomenon called synchronous rotation or tidal locking.
Below are true/false nature statements where only one is false.
A. There are stars in the observable universe that formed before the Milky Way galaxy itself.
B. The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest man-made structure on Earth for over 3,800 years.
C. The Oxford University Press predates the Aztec Empire.
D. The Roman Republic legally continued to exist for years after Augustus became emperor.
C. The Oxford University Press predates the Aztec Empire.
Oxford University is old, but the Aztec Empire predates the Oxford University Press. (Oxford teaching existed earlier, but the Press itself does not.)
The collapse of the Soviet Union officially occurred in what year?
A. 1989
B. 1990
C. 1991
D. 1992
C. 1991
The Soviet Union officially collapsed in December 1991, with key events including Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation on December 25, 1991, and the formal dissolution by the Supreme Soviet on December 26, 1991.
Which country has the most time zones (including overseas territories)?
A. Russia
B. United States
C. France
D. United Kingdom
C. France
France has the most time zones of any country, with 12 (or 13, depending on DST/Antarctic claims), thanks to its numerous overseas territories scattered globally, like French Polynesia and Réunion, even though mainland France uses only one time zone.
Below are true/false nature statements where only one is false.
A. Some species of bamboo can grow more than 90 cm (35 inches) in a single day.
B. Adult frogs can breathe entirely through their skin without using lungs at all.
C. Wombat feces are naturally cube-shaped.
D. The majority of Earth’s oxygen is produced by marine phytoplankton rather than forests.
B. Adult frogs can breathe entirely through their skin without using lungs at all.
Adult frogs do absorb oxygen through their skin, but cannot survive without lung breathing entirely.
What distinguishes a brown dwarf from a true star?
A. It never emits light
B. It cannot fuse hydrogen under any conditions
C. It forms through planetary accretion
D. It lacks a photosphere
B. It cannot fuse hydrogen under any conditions
The defining difference is sustained nuclear fusion: True stars are massive enough to fuse hydrogen into helium in their cores, generating immense light and heat, while brown dwarfs lack the mass for this, acting as "failed stars" that cool over time.
Below are true/false nature statements where only one is true.
A. The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest structure in the world for over 4,000 years.
B. The Vatican City has its own prison system with long-term inmates.
C. There are more possible games of chess than atoms in the observable universe.
D. Sharks must constantly swim, or they will suffocate.
C. There are more possible games of chess than atoms in the observable universe.
There are vastly more possible chess games than atoms in the observable universe, with estimates placing possible chess variations around 10^120 (the Shannon number) compared to roughly 10^80 atoms, a difference of many, many orders of magnitude, demonstrating the immense complexity of the game.
Which ruler was in power longest?
A. Queen Victoria
B. Louis XIV
C. Augustus Caesar
D. Peter the Great
B. Louis XIV
Louis XIV reigned 72 years.
Which element has the highest electronegativity?
A. Oxygen
B. Chlorine
C. Nitrogen
D. Fluorine
D. Fluorine
Fluorine most strongly attracts electrons, making it extremely reactive.