Programming
In Python, what keyword is used to define a function?
def
which Olympic sport is the Fosbury Flop technique commonly used?
High Jump
What renewable energy source harnesses the kinetic energy of moving air to generate electricity?
Wind Power
What 1919 treaty officially ended World War I?
Treaty of Versailles
You have two ropes. Each burns in exactly one hour. How do you measure 30 minutes using them?
What is light both ends of one rope at the same time? (Trick: Lighting both ends makes the rope burn in exactly 30 minutes.)
What data structure, commonly used in graph traversal algorithms, operates on a Last-In-First-Out principle?
Stack
What is the term for the illegal move in basketball where a player takes more than two steps without dribbling?
Traveling
In green engineering, what is the term for a building designed to use minimal energy and resources while maintaining comfort?
Passive House (or Passivhaus)
Which 1962 event brought the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war?
Cuban Missile Crisis
A cake is cut into exactly three pieces with one straight cut. How is this possible? Response: What is cut the cake horizontally?
(Trick: Think 3D—a horizontal cut through a tall cake makes three layers.)
n object-oriented programming, what term describes a class inheriting properties and methods from another class?
Inheritance
In cricket, what is the term for dismissing a batsman by hitting the stumps directly with the ball during a delivery?
Traveling
What gas, commonly targeted in carbon capture and storage systems, is the primary contributor to global warming?
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
What was the name of the U.S. program that provided economic aid to rebuild Western Europe after World War II?
Marshall Plan
You’re in a race and pass the person in third place. What’s your position now? Response: What is third place?
Trick: Passing the third-place runner puts you in their spot, not first or second.
What is the time complexity of a binary search algorithm on a sorted array of n elements?
O(log n)
In competitive swimming, which stroke requires the swimmer to touch the wall with both hands simultaneously at the turn?
Breaststroke
What type of sustainable urban drainage system uses vegetation and soil to manage stormwater runoff?
Green Roof (or Rain Garden, depending on context)
In what year did the Berlin Wall fall, symbolizing the end of the Cold War?
1989
A man has two coins: one normal, one with heads on both sides. He picks one randomly and flips it. It’s heads. What’s the chance it’s the double-headed coin?
What is 2/3? (Trick: Three possible heads—two from the double-headed coin, one from the normal—make it 2/3.)
In functional programming, what is the term for a function that takes another function as an argument or returns a function as a result?
Higher-Order Function
In fencing, which of the three weapons—foil, épée, or saber—allows points to be scored with the edge of the blade as well as the tip?
Saber
n photovoltaic systems, what semiconductor material is most commonly used to convert sunlight into electricity?
Silicon
What African leader, imprisoned for 27 years, became the first Black president of South Africa in 1994?
Nelson Mandela
You have three identical boxes. One has two apples, one has two oranges, one has an apple and an orange. Pick a box and a fruit randomly; it’s an apple. What’s the chance the other fruit in that box is an apple?
What is 2/3? (Trick: Similar to the coin puzzle, the apple is likely from the two-apple box.)