QUIZ: Only a Genius Can Pass this Basic Science Test!

Hydrogen is listed first on the Periodic Table of Elements because it is composed of a single proton and a single electron. Hydrogen is also the most abundant element in the universe.

Ichthyo in Ancient Greek means fish, so ichthyology is the branch of zoology that deals with fish. There are currently about 33,000 species of fish, with about 250 new species being discovered each year.

This crazy fact is completely true. Because astronauts have such bulky suits and no ability to touch their face while they’re out on a space walk, velcro is put into their helmets to solve this problem.

Dust mites eat organic matter that exists as dust around us and they also absorb water from humidity in the atmosphere. Their excrement can contain up to 14 known allergens.

The word chronometer itself means “time instrument” and marine chronometers are used to keep time and determine longitude by matching the current time at a fixed location to the time of another known location.

Whooping cough is caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis and it is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection. Polio and measles are both caused by viruses.

Diatoms, which are a major group of algae, are found mostly in the oceans and waterways on Earth, but they can also be found in soil. Diatoms generate between 20% and 50% of the oxygen produced on our planet.

Alkanes and Alkynes are hydrocarbon compounds, so they are organic because they contain carbon. These are all simple hydrocarbon chains.

Nitrous oxide was first discovered by chemist Joseph Priestley, but it was Humphrey Davy who first experimented with the effects of the gas and he coined the term “laughing gas.”

The oldest fossils, or remains of prehistoric organisms, are forms of bacteria that have been found preserved in pieces of rock that are more than 3.5 billion years old.

Melanins are compounds in the body that are responsible for the pigmentation of hair and skin. Pheomelanin is a pigment found in red hair that also causes skin to be lighter.

Glass is an amorphous material and its molecules are not in a crystalline structure. The term amorphous means “without a clearly defined shape or form” which is unlike that of a crystalline structure.

Ethyl alcohol comes from the fermentation of fruits or grains, which makes it safe to consume. Other forms of alcohol like isopropyl alcohol and methanol are not safe to consume.

Walking is an action that can be controlled at will, while no matter how hard a person tries, they cannot stop sweating just like no one can use their mind to stop their heart from beating.

Germany launched a V-2 A4 rocket into space 15 years before Sputnik, a satellite, was launched by the Soviet Union. It was the first manmade object to reach space and it traveled over 118 miles to do so.

117 is divisible by 3, 9, 13 and 39, which means that it is not a prime number because prime numbers are whole numbers greater than 1 whose only two whole-number factors are 1 and itself.

Of the planets in our solar system, only Mercury and Venus do not have any moons. Mars has two moons and Saturn has over 60 moons, while Neptune and Jupiter both have dozens of moons.

The Archean Eon lasted from 4 billion years ago to 2.5 billion years ago. During that time the atmosphere was so toxic that it would kill most of the life on Earth today, but there are still fossils that exist from this time period.

While doing experiments to determine the temperatures of different colors of light in the 1800s, William Herschel discovered invisible warm radiation that was cooler than visible light, which is inferred radiation.

Pangaea was the supercontinent that scientists believe existed during the Triassic era. Scientists also believe that in approximately 250 million years the continents will converge again on the other side of Earth.

Just like all the other planets in our wondrous solar system, the Earth orbits around the sun. Once upon a time, polymath and Greek philosopher, Aristotle believed that the sun, the moon, and all the other planets actually orbited around planet Earth.

When it comes to the animal kingdom, blood comes in a wide array of colors. Lobsters, the Antarctic octopus, Horseshoe crabs, spiders, snails, skink and a few other animals have blue blood thanks to a protein known as hemocyanin which contains copper.

As shocking as this sounds, the human body is capable of digesting almost everything, including razor blades (although those will do some damage on the way down!). Our bodies contain stomach acids which help us break down and digest the food we eat. The acid is so strong, it can easily dissolve thin metal. This doesn’t mean people should go around eating blades, of course!

Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in herbs, weeds, plants, grass, and all sorts of vegetation. This chemical is the reason why grass appears green. Chloroform doesn’t absorb the green wavelengths of sunlight, so grass reflects green back to our eyes.

Alan Turing is the father of the modern computers we know today, so we should all thank him for making the world a better place (well, kind of!). Turing was an English mathematician, cryptanalyst, and logician who designed a model of an electronic all-purpose digital computer in 1936. Back in the day, these were known as “Turing Machines.”

Kane Tanaka, who was born in 1903, is the oldest living person in the world. As of October 29 of 2020, the lovely Mrs. Tanaka is a whopping 117 years and 301 days old. She celebrated her latest birthday with some delicious cake at the Fukuoka nursing home where she lives. Wow!

The General Sherman Tree is a whopping 274.9 feet tall. This beautiful giant can be found at the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park in the United States. Thanks to its colossal height and a trunk volume of 52,508 cubic feet, this massive tree is the world’s largest tree by volume.

Reducing our carbon footprints and upcycling old rags and products lying around the house will definitely help the environment, too. But recycling is to use or reuse waste that would otherwise get thrown away and turn it into new objects and materials we can use again.

Calcium (Ca), is a chemical element with the atomic number 20. This structural material is soft and has a silvery-white shade. Calcium is found in teeth, sea shells, bones, stalactites, skeletal systems, and even dairy products. Oh, and if we could squeeze out all the calcium found in a human being, it would amount to approximately 2 pounds.

Chimps and humans act very much alike, and there’s a scientific explanation for it. As it turns out, researchers compared chimpanzees DNA to humans and discovered we share almost 99% of our DNA.

Aerophobia is known as the fear of flying. It can be caused by different factors, such as a loved one having an accident on a plane, or having experienced a traumatic aviation incident. Aerophobia can be treated with talk therapy, exposure therapy, medication, relaxation and breathing exercises, and even hypnosis in some cases.

The sun is approximately 150 million kilometers away, so what we see today is what the sun looked like 8 minutes before. According to research, the light from the sun takes on average 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach the Earth.

Venus and Earth are planetary twins because they’re both super rocky planets that share almost the same amount of mass. They’re also made of the same materials, have similar atmospheres, and are very close in size.

Diamonds are not only a girl’s best friend, but they’re also the hardest (and most coveted) material on earth. Diamonds are so strong, only a diamond would be able to scratch another diamond.

Across the orbit of our wonderful planet can be found all kinds of space debris, satellites, and even the moon. The universe isn’t a lonely place, whatsoever!

As it turns out, shark teeth are just as strong as ours (not stronger). A study published in the Journal of Structural Biology by a team of scientists from Germany discovered that shark teeth are composed of 100 percent fluoride, but they’re just as robust as human teeth.

Yup! Reread the sentence again. Both materials weigh the same, no matter how much space they may occupy. We might need a giant container to fit the feathers, (a ton is a LOT of feathers!) but both materials, no matter how big or small they may be, will still weigh the same.

Anesthesia is one of the greatest discoveries of all time. It was on October 16, 1846, that William T. G. Morton, a dentist, effectively administered anesthesia on his patient and forever changed the course of modern medicine.

By far, the biggest planet is Jupiter. Its massive 140,000 kilometers diameter is 11 times larger than Earth’s own diameter. Not only that, but Jupiter is 300 times bigger than Earth.

A light year is a unit of length that’s used by astronomers and scientists to measure the distance that light can travel in a year. A light year moves at a speed of an impressive 300,000 kilometers per second.

The most predominant elements in the Earth’s crust are oxygen and silicon, which surprisingly occupy approximately three quarters of the mass in the crust.

The human cranium is the part of the skull that protects the human brain from injuries. It’s a hard bone case, made of cranial bones that enclose the brain and provide structure and of course, protection.

As it turns out, most of our bodies are not even human! Research shows that more than half of our bodies are made of colonies of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microorganisms.

Clouds might look all soft, airy, and lightweight, but an average cumulus cloud can be pretty heavy, weighing an impressive 500,000 kilograms, which is about 1.1 million pounds.

Bromine is the only other element that is liquid at room temperature, but the element Gallium has a melting point that is low enough for it to melt in a person’s hand.

Unlike other plants, fungi like mushrooms propagate by spreading single cells known as spores. These spores are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye.

DNA molecules are the double helixes, which look like a ladder that was twisted. The structure of DNA molecules was discovered by scientists James Watson and Francis Crick in the 1950s.

The prefix “entomo” means insect and the suffix “ology” means the study of. Entomology is one of many branches of zoology, which itself is a branch of biology.

The Earth’s oceans hold about 96.5% of all of the water on Earth, but the salt content of this water means that it cannot be used as drinking water. So, the remaining 3.5% of freshwater is used for that purpose.

Based on fossil records, scientists cannot conclude that humans and dinosaurs ever coexisted. But, animals that we currently cohabitate with, like crocodiles are believed to have lived during the time of dinosaurs.

Combustion is the chemical reaction that occurs when a fuel source is activated and oxygenated. Fuel sources are typically made of carbon and hydrogen and the thing that activates combustion is typically heat.

Doppler radar can be used to see the precipitation levels of a storm and the direction a storm is moving by exiting a signal and recording the strength at which it bounces back.

Iodine reacts with amylose, which is present in starch, to create a dark blue color. If there’s no starch present, no reaction will occur and a blue color will not appear.

Refraction is the bending of light when it moves from one stage of matter to another. When light moves from air to water, as it does after a rain storm, the water in the air acts like a prism to create a rainbow in the sky.

Using the Avoirdupois system, there are 16 ounces in a pound. This system was used in England as a standard in the 13th century before it was officially updated in 1959.

Using a primitive telescope, Galileo noticed small points of light moving back and forth near Jupiter that he determined to be moons. This fact helped people accept that Earth was not the center of the universe.

RGB refers to the colors red, green and blue, which are utilized and combined to create all of the other colors that are visible on these screens.

The lack of gravity in space causes astronauts’ spines to relax and slightly expand, which creates a bit of extra space between each vertebrae in the spine. But, when they return to Earth, they soon return to their usual height.

In his writings and sketches, Leonardo da Vinci described a wide variety of future inventions including the parachute, helicopter and a tank, but the skateboard was not among them.

The word dendrochronology comes from the greek words “dendron” which means tree, “chronos” which means time and “ology” which comes from the greek word “logos” which means the study of.