Are you ready for the 2022 megaquiz?

#1. What’s the name of the line running across Australia that separates the tropics from the temperate zone?

The Equator

The Antarctic circle

The Tropic of Cancer

The Tropic of Capricorn

The Tropic of Capricorn is the southernmost place where the Sun passes directly overhead. South of that, the Sun is always in the north.

#2. There are rivers of liquid methane on Titan, but where is Titan?

It’s a moon of Saturn

It’s in the asteroid belt

It’s a dwarf planet out past Pluto

It’s orbiting the star Proxima Centauri

Titan is the largest of Saturn’s moons. It has a thick atmosphere and has seas, rivers and rain made of methane.

#3. How tall are the tallest trees in Tasmania?

50 metres tall

100 metres tall

150 metres tall

200 metres tall

The tallest trees in Tasmania are swamp gums, and they can grow more than 100 metres. That makes them some of the tallest trees in the world!

#4. When a river goes around a bend, where does it erode fastest?

The inside of the bend

The outside of the bend

Both banks equally

Rivers erode fastest on the outside of a bend. Over time, this makes bendy rivers even bendier.

#5. If you wanted to make a guitar string one octave lower, without making it thicker or looser, how much longer would it need to be?

25% longer

50% longer

Twice as long

8 times longer

To make a note one octave lower, the string needs to vibrate at half the frequency. To do that, it needs to be twice as long. In real life, bass guitars are usually a bit longer than guitars, but the strings also tend to be thicker and looser to reach those low notes!

#6. What’s the coldest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica?

−29° C

−49° C

−69° C

−89° C

The coldest temperature recorded in Antarctica was −89.2° C at Vostok station in 1983.

#7. Over millions of years, crude oil can form from algae, bacteria and which of these other sources?

Dinosaurs

Trees

Plankton

Fossilised poo

Crude oil forms from algae, bacteria and sea creatures that sink to the seafloor and are fossilised.

#8. How many long bones are commonly found in a human arm?

2

3

4

5

3. The humerus bone runs from the shoulder to the elbow, and the radius and ulna bones run from the elbow to the wrist.

#9. The Todd River in Alice Springs is ephemeral, but what does ephemeral mean?

It only runs sometimes

The water is salty

It’s a series of small, connected lakes

It smells like rotten eggs

An ephemeral river only runs after rain. Most of the time it’s completely dry.

#10. Which of the following tardigrade facts is false?

They have survived being exposed to outer space for 10 days

They can survive being frozen for 30 years

They can survive being squished with 1,200 atmospheres of pressure

They can survive being submerged in lava

Some tardigrades can survive at temperatures of 150° C, but lava is much hotter, around 700° C–1,200° C.

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