General Physics Trivia Question: 1 Where does sound travel faster; water or air? View the answerHide answer Water. Question: 2 What is opposite to matter? View the answerHide answer Antimatter. Question: 3 Why do bubbles pop? View the answerHide answer They dry out from the surrounding air and the remaining surface tension of the water tears the bubble apart. Question: 4 What is the Law of Conservation of Energy? View the answerHide answer The energy of the Universe is constant; it can neither be created or destroyed but only transferred and transformed. Question: 5 What does a manometer measure? View the answerHide answer The pressure of a closed system. Question: 6 What is the unit measurement for the activity of a radioactive source? View the answerHide answer The becquerel (Bq). 1 Bq = 1 disintegration per second Question: 7 If you mix all colours of light do you get black, white or a rainbow? View the answerHide answer White. Adding all colours of light together is called colour addition, while adding all colours of paint together is called colour subtraction. Question: 8 How many separate patents did Thomas Edison file? View the answerHide answer 1093! Question: 9 Can you fold a piece of paper in half 7 times? View the answerHide answer No, at least not using everyday paper. NB: We've had some feedback about this one. The 'Mythbusters' show did try this and get 8 folds, however this required a paper sheet the size of a football field and further folding required a steamroller! Check this link. Of course, this is a Wikipedia stub and as such needs further verification on its statements. We've followed the stated instructions and only achieved a "7 fold" a couple of times. For most cases it really isn't possible. Question: 10 What does TCP/IP stand for? View the answerHide answer Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol. Question: 11 What's the highest recorded surface wind speed? View the answerHide answer 372 km/h! Over Mt Washington, New Hampshire on April 12, 1934. Question: 12 What is the name of the layer of air closest to us in the atmosphere? View the answerHide answer Troposphere Question: 13 True or false - is lightning 3 times hotter than the Sun? View the answerHide answer True Question: 14 True or false: When lighting hits a tree the water inside the tree boils and expands, blowing the tree apart. View the answerHide answer True Question: 15 Is the stratosphere above or below the troposphere? View the answerHide answer The stratosphere extends 50 km above the troposphere Question: 16 Why is Merino wool so good at keeping you warm in winter? View the answerHide answer Merino wool fibres are wavy, not straight. Wavy wool traps air which is an excellent insulator. This trapped air can be heated by the body. 'Fine' wool fibres have 12 repeating waves for every cm, whereas 'coarse' wool fibres have less than 2 waves per cm. Merino wool can be 'super fine', making an awesome material for warm sweaters Question: 17 How many volts can an electric eel produce? View the answerHide answer Around 500. Question: 18 True or false: The Eiffel Tower is taller in summer than it is in winter. View the answerHide answer True. Metals expand as they are heated, and this can cause metal structures to stretch with temperature changes. Question: 19 What is the word ‘radar’ an abbreviation for? View the answerHide answer Radio Detection and Ranging. Question: 20 What year was the sound barrier broken? View the answerHide answer The ‘sound barrier’ refers to the speed of sound and breaking it means travelling faster than sound itself. It was first broken in 1947. Question: 21 On the moon, which would hit the ground first if they were dropped from the same height and at the same time: a feather or a bowling ball? View the answerHide answer Neither, they would hit the surface of the moon at the same time. Question: 22 Is it possible to physically stop light from moving? View the answerHide answer Yes, and scientists have done so! Question: 23 What unit is used to measure the intensity of light? View the answerHide answer Candela (cd) Question: 24 What does the acronym ‘LASER’ stand for? View the answerHide answer Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation Question: 25 What rock floats in water? View the answerHide answer There is only one - pumice. However, once water enters into the rock itself it will then sink. Question: 26 Which freezes faster, hot water or cold water? View the answerHide answer Cold water. Question: 27 What is the hardest known substance? View the answerHide answer Diamond Question: 28 What is the speed of light? View the answerHide answer 300 million meters per second. Question: 29 Does light travel faster through air or water? View the answerHide answer The speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 metres per second (lets call this 300,000,000 metres per second as an approximation!). However, as the density of a material increases so does its refractive index (which in turn affects the speed of light in that material). In this case, air is less dense than water and does not slow light down as much as water does. In short, light is faster in air than in water. Question: 30 When you mix red and green light, what colour light is formed? View the answerHide answer Yellow (mixing light is very different from mixing paints) Question: 31 The word “force” comes from the Latin word “fortis”, meaning: View the answerHide answer Strong Question: 32 Your weight tells you how much stuff makes up your body. View the answerHide answer False. That is mass! Weight is actually the force of gravity on an object. Our weight on Earth is how much force the Earth's gravity has on us and how hard it is pulling us. So if we use the same scales to measure our weight on Earth and on Mars, it will show different numbers (60 kg vs 22.7 kg), but our mass will stay the same. Question: 33 What is the name of the force keeping you in your seat on a rollercoaster when it goes upside down? View the answerHide answer Centripetal force. This keeps you moving in a circular motion instead of you being flung out of the curved path of motion. Question: 34 When the roads are wet, sometimes that water reduces friction between the tyres and the tarmac and causes our cars to lose control. What is this called? View the answerHide answer Aquaplaning Question: 35 Scientists often talk about “Classical Mechanics.” What does this mean? View the answerHide answer Describing how things move according to Newton’s Laws. Question: 36 True or false: gravity can be so strong that it even pulls in light. View the answerHide answer True: When an object is massive enough it’s gravity can pull in light faster than the light can escape. These objects are called black holes. Question: 37 Which muscle in the human body can produce the most force for its size? View the answerHide answer The masseter in your jaw. When an adult bites down hard, they can exert a force of 90N on their back teeth. That’s like sitting a 90kg weight on your molars! Question: 38 Which is the strongest fundamental force in the universe? View the answerHide answer Strong nuclear force. It's 6 thousand trillion trillion trillion (that's 39 zeroes after 6!) times stronger than the force of gravity. Question: 39 True or false: Isaac Newton was Albert Einstein’s great-great-grandfather. View the answerHide answer False. They’re not related at all. Question: 40 What do we call the study of how objects move when forces act on them? View the answerHide answer Dynamics Question: 41 True or false: You must touch an object to apply a force to it. View the answerHide answer False. There are forces that do not require the objects to touch in order to act on them, these are called non-contact forces. E.g. magnetic forces. Love Science? Subscribe! Join our newsletter Receive more lesson plans and fun science ideas. PROGRAMS COURSES SHOP SCIENCE PARTIES Calendar of Events HIGH SCHOOL Science@Home 4-Week Membership 12PM: March 2024 Feb 26, 2024 - Mar 29, 2024 12PM - 12PM Price: $50 - $900 Book Now! PRIMARY Science@Home 4-Week Membership 2PM: March 2024 Feb 26, 2024 - Mar 22, 2024 2PM - 2PM Price: $50 - $900 Book Now! Light and Colour Online Workshop, Jan 18 PM Jan 18, 2024 2PM - 3PM Price: $50 Book Now! Light and Colour Online Workshop, Jan 18 AM Jan 18, 2024 9AM - 11AM Price: $50 Book Now! Lego Robotics, Sydney Olympic Park Jan 2024 Jan 24, 2024 9AM - 12PM Price: $50 Book Now! 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They dry out from the surrounding air and the remaining surface tension of the water tears the bubble apart.
The energy of the Universe is constant; it can neither be created or destroyed but only transferred and transformed.
White. Adding all colours of light together is called colour addition, while adding all colours of paint together is called colour subtraction.
No, at least not using everyday paper. NB: We've had some feedback about this one. The 'Mythbusters' show did try this and get 8 folds, however this required a paper sheet the size of a football field and further folding required a steamroller! Check this link. Of course, this is a Wikipedia stub and as such needs further verification on its statements. We've followed the stated instructions and only achieved a "7 fold" a couple of times. For most cases it really isn't possible.
Merino wool fibres are wavy, not straight. Wavy wool traps air which is an excellent insulator. This trapped air can be heated by the body. 'Fine' wool fibres have 12 repeating waves for every cm, whereas 'coarse' wool fibres have less than 2 waves per cm. Merino wool can be 'super fine', making an awesome material for warm sweaters
True. Metals expand as they are heated, and this can cause metal structures to stretch with temperature changes.
The ‘sound barrier’ refers to the speed of sound and breaking it means travelling faster than sound itself. It was first broken in 1947.
The speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 metres per second (lets call this 300,000,000 metres per second as an approximation!). However, as the density of a material increases so does its refractive index (which in turn affects the speed of light in that material). In this case, air is less dense than water and does not slow light down as much as water does. In short, light is faster in air than in water.
False. That is mass! Weight is actually the force of gravity on an object. Our weight on Earth is how much force the Earth's gravity has on us and how hard it is pulling us. So if we use the same scales to measure our weight on Earth and on Mars, it will show different numbers (60 kg vs 22.7 kg), but our mass will stay the same.
Centripetal force. This keeps you moving in a circular motion instead of you being flung out of the curved path of motion.
True: When an object is massive enough it’s gravity can pull in light faster than the light can escape. These objects are called black holes.
The masseter in your jaw. When an adult bites down hard, they can exert a force of 90N on their back teeth. That’s like sitting a 90kg weight on your molars!
Strong nuclear force. It's 6 thousand trillion trillion trillion (that's 39 zeroes after 6!) times stronger than the force of gravity.
False. There are forces that do not require the objects to touch in order to act on them, these are called non-contact forces. E.g. magnetic forces.
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