40 Basic Trivia Questions

Basic Trivia Questions Part 1

1) When did the Thirty Years War end?

Answer: 1648

2) Who was the author of the book History?

Answer: Elsa Morante

3) He became president of Mexico in 1867 after leading the uprising against Maximilian:

A) General Santa Anna

B) Benito Juarez

C) Padre Hidalgo

D) Venustiano Carranza

E) Alvaro Obregon

Answer: B

As one Mexican president said, “Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the U.S.”

4) The Mississippi River begins flowing in?

A) Minnesota

B) Michigan

C) Wisconsin

D) Ontario, Canada

Answer: A

5) In the books of Genesis, what is the name of the garden paradise that was home to Adam and Eve?

Answer: The Garden of Eden

6) In what order of alignment are the sun, the earth and the moon in a lunar eclipse?

A) Sun, moon, earth

B) Ssun, earth, moon

C) Moon, sun, earth

Answer: B

7) Which of these foods is a basic ingredient of tartar sauce?

A) Carrots

B) Tomatoes

C) Pickles

D) Asparagus

Answer: C

8) Stephen Jay Gould developed which evolutionary theory?

Answer: Punctuated equilibrium

9) Which type of hard liquor is mismatched with the ingredient it’s distilled from?

A) Whiskey – grain

B) Tequila – cactus

C) Rum – sugar cane

D) Vodka – potatoes

E) Brandy – fruit

Answer: B

Tequila is distilled from the sap of the agave, a native plant of Mexico.

10) An object has a mass of 10 grams and a volume of 5 ml. What will happen when the object is placed in water, and why?

A) Sink slowly, because the density of 2 g/mL is greater than that of water

B) Sink quickly, because the density of 50 g/mL is much greater than that of water

C) Float, because its density is 0.5 mL/g which is less than that of water

Answer: A

11) The first woman athlete to win over $100,000 in prize money during a single year was:

A) Chris Evert

B) Pat Bradley

C) Peggy Fleming

D) Billie Jean King

E) Babe Didrikson

Answer: D

She’s long been a crusader for equality in prize money given to women athletes.

12) In a change where a new substance is made and the change is difficult to reverse, that change is:

A) Physical

B) Chemical

C) Melting

Answer: B

13) What name is given to rainwater drains carved in the shape of ghoulish creatures?

Answer: Gargoyles

14) A tendon attaches bone to:

A) Bone

B) Muscle

C) Nerves

Answer: B

15) What is the longest single river in the United States?

Answer: Mississippi River

The Mississippi River flows 2,340 miles from Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to the Gulf of Mexico. If you include the entire river system, the Mississippi-Missouri-Red Rock River system runs 3,710 miles from Montana to the Gulf of Mexico.

Basic Trivia Questions Part 2

16) How many movements was Gustav Holst’s 1918 orchestral suite The Planets?

Answer: 7

17) What six-sided puzzle was designed by a Hungarian architect and sold more than 100 million units in the 1980s?

Answer: Rubik’s Cube

18) Why are “red-letter days” so called?

Answer: From the red letters used in church calendars to show saints’ days and feasts.

19) What two events does the biathlon combine?

A) Cross-country skiing and shooting

B) Downhill skiing and ski jumping

C) Snowshoeing and fishing

D) Eating and running

Answer: A

In the biathlon, competitors cross-country ski over a course and stop at intervals to shoot at targets with rifles. The first biathlon competitions took place in the 1700s.

20) In what city did C. Linbergh land in after his flight across the Atlantic?

A) Paris

B) Cannes

C) Bordeaux

D) Marseille

Answer: A

21) Which Disney film featured the mice Bernard and Bianca?

A) Peter Pan

B) The Rescuers Down Under

C) Lady and the Tramp

D) The Sword in the Stone

E) Pinocchio

Answer: B

This animated film contained more computer animation than any other Disney film at the time.

22) Which colony became Australia’s major wheat exporter in the 1850’s?

Answer: South Australia

23) Who described his own pictures as ‘hand-painted dream photographs’?

A) Picasso

B) Renoir

C) Salvador Dali

Answer: C

24) What is the collective name for the eastern region of the Mediterranean, consisting of the coastal regions of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Turkey?

Answer: The Levant

25) What is the name of the U.S. Navy’s six-jet precision flying team?

Answer: Blue Angels

26) “Quaker” is another name for a Mormon.

A) True

B) False

Answer: B

27) Which plane was nicknamed the Flying Fortress in World War II?

Answer: B-17

28) What do you call a grouping of gorillas?

Answer: a band

29) What is unusual about pregnant seahorses?

Answer: Pregnant seahorses are male. The female seahorse transfers her eggs into the male’s exterior abdominal pouch. The male grows visibly “pregnant” within a few weeks. Embryos hatch in his pouch and are incubated there.

30) Who were the only presidents to win the election while serving as vice-president?

Answer: John Adams, George Herbert Walker Bush, Thomas Jefferson, and Martin Van Buren

Basic Trivia Questions Part 3

31) Which animal is the source of cashmere?

Answer: Goat

32) What D.C. monument is the world’s tallest obelisk?

Answer: The Washington Monument

33) Which of these common minerals is formed in very thin sheets?

A) Marble

B) Quartz

C) Shale

D) Mica

E) Granite

Answer: D

Sheet mica is used as an insulating material and in certain acoustic devices.

34) What city is your destination if your baggage tag reads “JFK”?

Answer: New York

35) Which of the following type of joint is not found in the human body?

A) Ball and socket

B) Gliding

C) Mortise and tenon

Answer: C

A mortise-and-tenon joint is not found in the body; it is a type of joint used in furniture making and architecture. Ball-and-socket joints can rotate in a full circle and are found in the shoulder and hip. Gliding joints are made up of two flat bones that slide over each other and are found in the wrist and foot. Other types of joints are sutures (joints of the skull) and hinges (joints of the elbow and knee).

36) What animals live in a formicarium?

Answer: Ants. Some ants are capable of flinging themselves through the air. Jerdon’s jumping ant (Harpegnathos saltator) can jump up to 10cm long by synchronising its mid and hind legs.

37) Who did Rome fight against in the Punic Wars?

Answer: Carthage

38) Each size of champagne bottle has a specific name. The largest bottle is called a:

A) Magnum

B) Nebuchadnezzar

C) Jeroboam

D) Largesse

E) Pontiff’s

Answer: B

Made for the extremely thirsty celebrator, it holds a gargantuan four U.S. gallons.

39) Made with ginger ale and grenadine, what nonalcoholic drink shares its name with a former child star and U.S. ambassador?

Answer: Shirley Temple