2024 is winding to a close and 2025 is just around the corner. What better way to celebrate than with a science quiz!
This quiz contains (almost) all of the science trivia questions featured in Double Helix Extra throughout 2024. There’s over 100 science questions to discover!
To make the quiz more manageable, it only displays 10 questions at a time. If you want more trivia, hit the refresh button to bring up a brand new selection of brain-busting science.
Results
Well done! You’re a real science whiz!
Oh dear! better brush up before the next quiz!
#1. True or false? We usually see rainbows in arcs but if you got up high enough (like in a plane), you can see a fully circular rainbow.
True. Every rainbow you see is a circular ring centred around your “antisolar point” – a spot pointed directly away from the Sun from your perspective. On the ground, your rainbow is partially blocked by the ground. Going higher raises your antisolar point, allowing you to see the full circle.
#2. True or false? Planets speed up and slow down as they orbit the Sun.
True! Planets have elliptical (oval-shaped) orbits they move slightly faster when they are closer to the Sun and slightly slower when they are furthest away.
#3. True or false? There’s a radio telescope in China with a dish that’s 500 metres across.
True. This gigantic telescope is called FAST, and the F stands for Five-hundred-meter. It’s built into a big, naturally occurring hole in the ground, and it steers by moving a cabin around above the dish (and by waiting for Earth to rotate!).
#4. What shape do table salt crystals typically grow into?
Salt is made of equal parts of Na and Cl ions, and they match up into a neat, cubic grid. This leads to nice, square crystals, like you might find in a box of table salt.
#5. In geometry, what is the name for a 5-pointed star?
The word pentagram comes from Ancient Greek. Penta- means five and -gram means drawing. A pentagram can be drawn with five straight lines, without lifting your pencil. A hexagram is a six-sided star. A pentagon is a five-sided shape. A rhombus is a four-sided shape whose sides are all equal.
#6. Which of the following is NOT considered part of your digital footprint?
At least for now, our real-time conversations are not recorded and uploaded! It is important to know that our digital footprint consists of active activities like posting to social media, sending emails and shopping online. It also consists of passive activities like information collected while visiting websites that use cookies.
#7. How many 30-centimetre pizzas would you need to order to get the same area as one 60-centimetre pizza?
The 60 centimetre pizza is twice the width and twice the length of the 30 centimetre pizza, so it’s 2 x 2 = 4 times the area!
#8. Which of the following is the best description of Pluto’s orbit?
All orbits are ovals (ellipses), and the Sun sits at a focus at one end of the ellipse. Ellipses always have two foci (plural of focus) that are on either side of the centre. Longer ellipses have focuses that are further from the centre.
#9. Which of the following natural disasters does NOT happen on Mars?
NASA’s InSight lander detected several “Marsquakes” and recorded meteorite impacts, too. Once every 5 years or so, Mars has dust storms that cover the entire planet! Meanwhile, tropical cyclones need to form over an ocean, which Mars currently doesn’t have.
#10. Which of the following can cause you to fart?
Yep, swallowing air can make you fart – you might swallow excess air if you eat or drink too fast, suck on hard lollies or drink fizzy drinks. Eating high fibre foods can make you fart for a different reason. Healthy bacteria in your gut break the fibre down and make gas in the process!
Want even more? Try past megaquizzes: