Science trivia questions to put your grey matter to test

Take this science quiz to prove that you are the ultimate science nerd! These science trivia questions and answers are sure to make your brain muscles work!

Looking for a list of best science trivia questions? We got you!‍

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Do you know that concept of gravity wasn’t discovered by Newton? Or that Sharks came before trees? If you didn't, we suggest that you take this amazing science quiz!

Challenge your wits with this list of science trivia questions! Find science trivia for kids and general science quiz for students, and everything in between. Quiz away!

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‍List of Science Trivia Questions

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1. What is the most important stimulant in tea leaves?

Answer: Caffeine 

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2. What is the source of turpentine?

Answer:  Pine 

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3. Which plant hormone controls fruit ripening?

Answer: Ethylene 

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4. Which is the largest living bird?

Answer: Ostrich 

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5. Body cells infected with viruses produce a protein called?

Answer: Interferon 

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6. What is the naturally occurring anticoagulant in the human blood?

Answer:  Heparin 

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7. Common salt is obtained from sea water by the process of:

Answer: Evaporation 

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8. Washing soda is:

Answer: Hydrated sodium carbonate 

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9. Lime water contains:

Answer: Calcium hydroxide 

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10. Cooking oil can be converted into vegetable ghee by the process of

Answer: Hydrogenation 

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11. What is the Montreal Protocol related to?

Answer:  Ozone depletion

12. Which planet is closest to the sun?

Answer: Mercury

13. What is the largest planet in our solar system?

Answer: Jupiter

14. Which planet is the brightest?

Answer: Venus

15. Which is the smallest continent on Earth?

Answer:  Australia

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16. What is marsh gas?

Answer: Methane

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17. What is the chemical name of a Chinese cooking ingredient, used for adding flavor?

Answer: Monosodium glutamate

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18. What is another name for sugar, often referred to as "white poison"?

Answer: Sucrose

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19. How is common salt obtained from seawater?

Answer: Through the process of evaporation

20. What is the chemical composition of a diamond?

Answer: Pure carbon

21. Why can chocolate be harmful to health?

Answer: Due to its high content of nickel

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Science Trivia Questions

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21. Commercial cork is obtained from the bark of:

Answer: Oak  

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22. A plant bearing both male and female flowers is called:

Answer: Monoecious  

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23. For how much time can bacteria remain alive at sub-zero temperatures?

Answer: More than 1000 years 

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24. The term ‘gene’ for the factor controlling heredity was coined by:

Answer: W. Johannsen 

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25. How many pairs of chromosomes are there in humans?

Answer: 23 pairs 

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26. The ‘one gene one enzyme’ hypothesis suggesting that one gene controls the synthesis of one enzyme was proposed by:

Answer: Beadle and Tatum 

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27. Which gases cause acid rain?

Answer: Sulphur dioxide

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28. With which Polymerthe cabinets are radio and TV made of?

Answer: Polystyrene 

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29. Which chemical is used to make raincoats?

Answer: Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) 

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30. What is the name given to plastics that cannot be recycled?

Answer: Thermosetting plastics 

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31. Which element is a liquid at ordinary temperature?

Answer: Mercury 

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32. What is the chemical name of baking soda?

Answer: Sodium bicarbonate 

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33. What is sodium chloride NaCl?

Answer: Table salt 

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34. What is table sugar?

Answer: Cane sugar

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35. What is the element present in lead pencils?

Answer: Carbon (graphite) 

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36. What is the solvent of gold?

Answer: Aqua Regia 

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37. Name the chemical used to make toothpastes white.

Answer: Titanium dioxide 

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38. Which chemical is the reason behind the brown colour in human faeces?

Answer: Bilirubin 

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39. Which chemical is called Chile Saltpeter?

Answer: Sodium Nitrate 

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40. Which is the purest form of carbon?

Answer: Graphite 

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41. Which is called white poison?

Answer: Sugar 

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42. Which is the simplest sugar?

Answer: Glucose 

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43. What is the biological polymer in paper?

Answer: Cellulose 

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44. What is the chemical name of Vitamin E?

Answer: Alpha tocopherol 

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45. Which Vitamin is also known as retinol?

Answer: Vitamin A 

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46. What is Calciferol?

Answer: Vitamin D 

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47. Which Vitamin is called niacin?

Answer: Vitamin B3 

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48. Pollution of water bodies containing which element causes Minamata disease?

Answer: Mercury 

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49. Accumulation of which chemical leads to kidney stones?

Answer: Calcium Oxalate 

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50. Which heavy metal causes Itai Itai disease?

Answer: Cadmium

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51. Which type of plastics can be recycled?

Answer: Thermoplastics

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52. Which element is liquid at room temperature?

Answer: Mercury

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53. What is sodium carbonate commonly known as?

Answer: Washing soda or soda ash

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54. What gas is present in soda water?

Answer: Carbon dioxide

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Interesting Science Trivia Questions And Answers

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55. What invention did the Egyptians create around 2510 BC to correspond to the annual flooding of the Nile and identify three seasons? This invention is now carried around in our phones and only differs slightly from the original due to Roman interference.
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Answer:  Calendar
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56. What did the Egyptians do in the summer to counter the sweltering heat and insect pests? However, the result of this process was not aesthetically pleasing, so they invented a covering entity made with plant fibre, sheep wool, and the original material that was removed in the first place. Some of these coverings had resin and beeswax added, which melted in the sun and added fragrance.

Answer:  Shave their heads and wear wigs

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57. What material did ancient Romans use for structures like the Colosseum and the Pantheon, which is an aluminous and siliceous mixture that reacts with calcium hydroxide at room temperature in the presence of water? This material was widely used during the Roman Empire but fell out of use until it was redeveloped in the mid-eighteenth century and is now the most widely used man-made material.

Answer: Concrete

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58. What invention by a German goldsmith in the 1400s played a major role in the industrial revolution and allowed even the lower classes to access information? Mark Twain once said, "What the world is today, good and bad, it owes to _____." Can you fill in the blank with the inventor and invention?

Answer: Gutenberg Press
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59. What invention by Thomas Newcomen in the mid-1600s helped pump out water from flooded coal and tin mines in Devon, England? It is said to have kick-started the industrial revolution and was later improved by James Watt.

Answer: Steam engine

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60. What is the name of the device invented by the Hero of Alexandria in the first century where you drop a coin into a slot on top for it to dispense a certain quantity of holy water? This is the very first version of a device that you have most probably used in an airport or a train station.

Answer: Vending machine


61. What English doctor discovered a process that led to the eradication of a deadly disease after noticing that milkmaids in his area were unaffected by the disease? He proved his theory by infecting his gardener's son, James, with the virus taken from one of the infected cows, and James recovered from both the infection and the actual disease.

Answer: Edward Jenner, vaccination against smallpox


62. What invention by Alessandro Volta consisted of alternating disks of zinc and silver separated by cloth soaked in sodium hydroxide and provided the first source of continuous electric current? Thanks to this invention, Volta is considered the inventor of what?

Answer: The battery
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63. What process did Jacob Perkins invent that changed the world of food and enabled the rise and expansion of large cities in so-called inhospitable areas? This system uses a circulating liquid that absorbs and removes heat from a space and is heavily dependent on in developed countries to ensure that the population gets its daily quota of food.

Answer: Refrigeration

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64. What waterproof invention did researchers at Johnson & Johnson create during World War II to keep ammunition cases dry for the US military? This invention is now widely used in many everyday products.

Answer: Duct Tape, originally known as ‘Duck Tape’
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65. What ancient medical therapy, also known as hirudotherapy, is still used today as a means of microsurgery to reduce swollen veins around the site of surgery?

Answer: Bloodletting through leeches 

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66. What is the name of the liquid that is high in potassium, low in sodium, and contains calcium and magnesium, and although it may be used as an emergency intravenous fluid, it is not generally recommended?

Answer: Coconut water

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67. What is the name of the only registered antibacterial metal that is also an excellent conductor of heat and electricity?

Answer: Copper

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68. What is the flame-retardant molecule that removes water and forms a flame-resistant carbon residue when heated, and is now being experimented on for use in flame-retardant clothing?

Answer: DNA

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69. Who were the three scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their work on the phenomenon known as "Becquerel rays," two of whom had also discovered and isolated two new elements?

Answer: Henri Becquerel, Marie and Pierre Curie

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70. What distinction did John Bardeen earn for his scientific achievements in the discovery of the world's first semiconductor amplifier and his solution to the problem of superconductivity?

Answer: He won two Nobel Prizes in Physics for these discovery

71. Who was the Austrian neurologist whose patient, Anna O, inspired one of the most influential psychological movements of the twentieth century?

Answer: Sigmund Freud

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72. What gas would you smell if you landed on Uranus based on a 2018 discovery?

Answer: Hydrogen sulphide

73. What new shape discovered in 2018 by scientists studying the arrangement of epithelial cells in some organs was named after a part of a beetle's thorax?

Answer: Scutoid

74. What invention idea did John Walker come up with in 1827 after accidentally discovering a substance that burst into flames when rubbed against a hearth?

Answer: Matchsticks

75. Which Scottish researcher accidentally discovered the world's first bacteria killer in 1928 while experimenting with the influenza virus, and what was the name of the substance he found?

Answer: Alexander Fleming, Penicillin
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76. What did Roy J. Plunkett discover in 1938 that makes a daily task much easier?

Answer: Teflon used in nonstick cookware

77. What invention did George de Mestral create after being inspired by the prickly heads of a Burdock plant that stuck to his dog's shaggy hair during a walk in the forest?

Answer: Velcro
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78. What multi-billion-dollar product was accidentally created by John Pemberton's lab assistant when mixing the leaves and nuts of a plant from the Erythroxylaceae family with carbonated water in an attempt to cure headaches?

Answer: Coca-Cola
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79. What natural phenomenon did French scientist Henri Becquerel enlighten us on after accidentally discovering the 'fogged' image of a uranium-enriched crystal on a photographic plate in 1896?

Answer: Radioactivity
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80. What drug, initially developed to treat Angina Pectoris, was accidentally discovered to treat a spasms in the heart’s coronary arteries and sold for over a billion dollars after being renamed and repurposed?

Answer: Viagra

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81. Who was the first Nobel Laureate born in India, and what vector of which disease did he discover?

Answer: Ronald Ross discovered malaria parasites in the anopheles mosquito

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82. What is the Mpemba effect, a temperature-dependent process in which hot water can freeze faster than cold water?

Answer: Ice cream

83. What did Henry Bigelow discover in 1846 that made it easier to do operations and what field did he discover?

Answer: Anesthetics, Ether

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84. Who was the Russian chemist who realized that elements with similar properties could be grouped together and what was his discovery?

Answer: Dmitri Mendeleev, The Periodic Table

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85. What did William Herschel discover when studying the heating effect of different colors of light using a prism and thermometers?

Answer: Infra red rays

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86. What did Isidor Isaac Rabi discover that abbreviates NMR, leading to many processes that accelerated the rate of discovery in physics?

Answer: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

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87. What state of matter between conventional liquids and solid crystals did Friedrich Reinitzer discover while examining cholesteryl benzoate derivatives in 1888?

Answer: Liquid crystals

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88. Why was the discovery of Australopithecus by Raymond Dart and South African lime quarry workers important in anthropology?

Answer: The earliest human ancestor was discovered

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89. What gas did Carl Wilhelm Scheele discover in 1772 while analyzing the properties of manganese (IV) oxide, which he named "Fire Air," but did not publish until five years later?

Answer: Oxygen

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90. What did Jan Evangelista Purkyně write his 1823 thesis on, which is still one of the most vital components in crime solving?

Answer:Fingerprints

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91. What was Dr. Amar's plan in 1978 during a flight, which led to the development of a new medical device?

Answer: Noise-canceling headphones; Bose

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92. What British chemist mapped the structure of insulin and determined the atomic structure of cholesterol and penicillin, and became the first British woman to win a Nobel prize for her work in determining the atomic structure of a compound called "cobalamin," which is now an important topic of debate for vegans?

Answer: Vitamin B12

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