Welcome to the Friday quiz! There was a week’s hiatus last week, but normal service will now be resumed. Some testing trivia for you to tackle today, but first a nice gentle start with some geography questions that a high school student could answer.
Round 1 – High School Geography
Every year in the US, National Geographic magazine organises the National Geographic Bee – a competition testing the geographical knowledge of school pupils across the nation. The following questions were all the final (and thus, thanks to the format, winning) questions asked in past years’ events. How does your knowledge compare to that of the finest geographical minds in American schools?
- Mount Erebus is a volcano on which continent?
- What type of landform is commonly associated with orographic precipitation?
- The condition characterized by unusually cold ocean temperature in the equatorial region of the eastern Pacific Ocean is known by what Spanish name?
Round 2 – A to Z
It’s the penultimate week of the A to Z, and we’re now up to V, W and, you guessed it, X:
- What V is the name of the virus that causes both chickenpox and shingles?
- In physics, what W is commonly designated by the Greek letter lamda (λ)?
- What X is the name of a tissue found in plants, and whose chief function is to transport water?
Round 3 – The Picture Round
This week’s pictures are linked by a theme – you just have to identify what’s in each picture and work out the theme:
1. What is the common English name of this plant?
{credit}Noah Elhardt{/credit}
2. What is the name of this rocket?
3. What is the general name given to this group of metals?
{credit}Tomihahndorf {/credit}
And finally, what is the link between all these answers?
Round 4 – Electricity
You wouldn’t be reading this quiz right now without it, but how much do you know about electricity?
- One of the most significant pieces of work in the entire history of science, “On Physical Lines of Force” – a four part paper definitively linking electricity with magnetism – was written by which Scottish physicist between 1861 and 1862?
- What is the name given to substances that conduct electricity with zero resistance at very low temperatures, and which, it has been proposed, could one day be used in quantum computing?
- Long before anyone knew of the concept of electricity, people knew of certain effects and pheonomena which we now know are the product of electricity. An example of this was what the ancient Egyptians called the “Thunderer of the Nile”. What sort of thing is/was the “Thunderer of the Nile”? (A very general answer is sufficient here rather than anything too specific.)
Round 5 = DTI (Decipher the Initials)
Can you work out what these initials stand for?
- 6 = F of Q
- 2 = HA in a WM
- 53 = AN of I
- 4 = FF of N
- 35 (approx.) = P in the AK
Good luck! (And look out for the answers on Monday.)
Looks interesting but I can’t find any way to answer the questions. It this intended as a purely solitary pursuit?
Hi Alison,
Alas, there is no interactive feature allowing you to submit your answers or anything like that so it is, in that sense, purely something for you to enjoy yourself. However, feel free to initiate discussion/boast about your score/complain about the questions right here in the comments section!
Answers as follows:
Round 1 – High School Geography
1. Mount Erebus is found in Antarctica
2. ‘Orography’ is the study of elevated terrain and hills and, in particular, mountains – so orographic precipitation is associated with mountains.
3. If you went for El Niño you were thinking along the right lines – however, El Niño causes a rise in temperature rather than a fall. This is El Niño’s counterpart, La Niña.
Round 2 – A to Z
1. Varicella zoster is what will give you chickenpox or shingles.
2. Lamda is used to denote wavelength.
3. Xylem transports water around plants.
Round 3 – The Picture Round
1. This is a Venus Flytrap
2. This is a Saturn rocket.
3. These are the alkaline earth metals.
And the connection, as you’ll surely have worked out by now, is planets.
Round 4 – Electricity
1. James Clerk Maxwell wrote this ground-breaking work.
2. These are superconductors.
3. The Thunderer of the Nile was a type of fish – a variety of catfish to be more specific, but ‘fish’ was just fine as an answer.
Round 5 – DTI (Decipher the Initials)
1. 6 = flavours of quark
2. 2 = Hydrogen atoms in a water molecule
3. 53 = Atomic number of iodine
4. 4 = Fundamental forces of nature
5. 35 (approx.) = phyla in the animal kingdom
More quizzing as usual this Friday. Have a great week.