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Science Pub Quiz Questions
Science Pub Quiz Part 1
1. What, in genetics, is the term denoting the transmission of traits and characteristics from parents to offspring?
Answer: Heredity.
Heredity is a term which refers to the passing of traits from one generation to the next by way of genetic information. The word “heredity” comes from Latin “”hereditas”” meaning “to inherit”.
2. Monarch butterflies travel at an average of _____ miles per day during migration.
Answer: 20
Monarch butterflies are one of the most iconic butterflies in North America. These beautiful orange and black insects spend their lives migrating back and forth between Mexico and Canada, where they live sojourns for different periods of time.
The fascinating thing about monarchs is that they are able to discern when winter is approaching, which prompts them to migrate south once again, where they hibernate until spring.
3. Three heavenly bodies that do not make their own light are:
Answer: Planets, moons and comets.
Planets, moons and comets are all celestial objects that lack their own light.
Planets and moons are both types of celestial bodies, but they are not the same thing. Planets are usually characterized by having a spherical appearance, while moons tend to be in orbit around them.
Comets differ from planets and moons because they consist of a mix of ice and dust or gas, which causes them to shine as they get close to the sun’s heat. They form when these materials from the outer edges of our solar system orbit around it in an elliptical pattern with its orbit intersecting ours at some point.
4. Which hormone is called the growth hormone?
Answer: Somatotropin.
Somatotropin is a polypeptide hormone, coded for by the gene STSR in humans. It is a tropic hormone regulating anabolism and growth of somatic tissue. Somatotropin acts to increase the linear dimensions of bones and muscle tissues, though it also has an important role in lipid metabolism (lipid peroxidation contributes to metabolic acidosis).
5. What was the name of the ship aboard which Charles Darwin first studied the plants and animals of the Galapagos Islands?
Answer: H.M.S. Beagle
On a voyage of discovery to survey the southern coasts of South America, biologist and geologist Charles Darwin famously traveled aboard H.M.S. Beagle for five years. The ship’s captain was Robert FitzRoy and its naturalist was John Lort Stokes who helped in exploring the coasts of Patagonia, Chile, and Peru collecting valuable information for British colonization efforts in South America at the time.
During this journey along with Fitzroy and Stokes, Darwin would also collect samples many fossils which would later form his theory on solving the mystery behind species extinction – that they were all descendants from one or few original forms.
6. The human brain uses approximately what percentage of all the energy that the body consumes?
Answer: 20%
humans have the largest brain relative to body size of all animals
brain function dominates over other bodily functions, accounting for 20% of total calorie consumption at rest
the brain is able to generate enough energy from its own glucose stores in a process called autophagy, but it can adapt by metabolizing alternative sources when food supplies are low or conditions are stressful.
7. Heisenberg is most associated with which branch of physics?
Answer: Quantum mechanics.
Heisenberg was a German physicist who is best known for his Uncertainty Principle. Heisenberg was born on October 4, 1901 in Würzburg, Germany.
The Uncertainty Principle is a principle dealing with the accuracy of certain measurements of physical quantities which show that it is impossible to measure precisely both the position and the momentum of an electron or any other elementary particle.
On September 18, 1980 Heisenberg received the Nobel Prize in Physics for “for his contributions to quantum physics, especially for his elucidation of the uncertainty relations between various parameters”. The same year he published “Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science” which focused on how quantum theory changed physics and philosophical thinking.
8. House flies beat their wings at a rate of ______ beats per second.
Answer: 200.
House flies beat their wings at a rate of about 200 times per second. This is not to say that they are easy to catch, as the fly can move at over 8 mph!
9. The planet which has the fastest revolution time is:
Answer: Mercury.
Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in our solar system. Mercury is a rocky planet with a surface that’s nearly half water ice. It completes a full orbit around the Sun in just 88 Earth days, and rotates really slowly, meaning one of its sides always faces toward the Sun, causing extreme heat on that side. Mercury has no natural satellites.
Since Mercury has no atmosphere to protect it from meteorites, it’s crisscrossed with dark crater marks left by impacts over billions of years.
10. What term describes the ability to do work or change matter?
Answer: Energy.
Energy is a concept that is used by physicists to describe many different forms of matter in the universe. The word “energy” has a variety of definitions, all referring to one ability or another. For example, energy can be kinetic, potential, chemical, electromagnetic or nuclear. Energy also transforms from one form into another; for example, electromagnetic radiation turns into heat when it interacts with an object.
The use and conservation of energy is studied by scientists called thermodynamics and they are really interested in how much energy can be produced or turned into other types before the system becomes unusable.
Science Pub Quiz Part 2
11. What Croatian-born physicist did pioneer work on radio, radar, and X-rays, but is best known for the development of alternating current?
Answer: Nikola Tesla.
Nikola Tesla was an inventor, engineer, physicist, and futurist who is best known for his contribution to the development of modern alternating current electricity. He was born in Croatia in 1856 and trained as an electrical engineer before immigrating to America. As one of the most famous inventors of all time and rivaled only by Thomas Edison, he is often credited with the invention of radio and famous for shaping our modern way of life through his discovery with alternating current.
12. HomoSapiens have walked the Earth for approximately _______.
Answer: 150,000 years.
HomoSapiens, or “wise man”, is the modern scientific name for our own species in the human genus.
It is thought that we first evolved from earlier hominid species like HomoErectus and Australopithecus because we have traits which are intermediate to those two. This proves that one of these two species must have been an ancestor of ours.
HomoSapiens inhabit all five continents with a wide degree of variation in culture and language across countries and continents.
13. Robert Oppenheimer is remembered for his work on which invention?
Answer: Atomic bomb.
Robert Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904 in New York City. He was raised in Manhattan and studied Chemistry at Harvard University with John Lawrence. In 1928 he discovered the first artificial radioactive isotope of a chemical element. He married Katherine Puening Taylor, and they had two children together.
In the late 1930s, Robert attended graduate school at UC-Berkeley where he earned his Ph.D in 1938. His most notable contribution to science there was his work on neutron separation for Enrico Fermi’s nuclear reactor project which allowed for increased production of plutonium by slowing down neutrons with graphite to enable them to react with uranium nuclei more often without corrosion from heavier elements like nitrogen or oxygen.
14. What do we call a scientist who studies fossils from dinosaurs?
Answer: Palaeontologist.
There is a large number of different careers in the world of science, but few are as diverse and enriching as that of the palaeontologist.
A palaeontologist (from Greek παλαιός “old” and νόμος “law”) is a scientist who specializes in fossils, which are remnants of animals or plants that lived long ago. Fossils may be imprints or traces left by an animal when it was still living or remain from plants from hundreds to millions of years ago.
15. One revolution of the moon around the earth takes about:
Answer: 27 days.
The moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth. Our planet is the center of all its celestial motions, and it goes one complete circuit around our home every 27 days.
As the moon orbits Earth, it goes through four phases – first there’s a new crescent moon, where you can just barely see a sliver. Then there’s a waxing gibbous where more and more is visible right up to full moon when you can see entirely illuminated disk of dark and light areas on its face. Finally, after waning gibbous the moon has shrunk until it appears to be a slender sliver once again (though this time in reverse).
16. If you are moving your mandible, what are you most likely doing?
Answer: Chewing food.
The mandible is a bone in the human skull that forms the lower jaw. The mandible is a jagged, two-headed bone (dental) situated on either side of one’s mouth. It functions as a lever that moves the lower jaw up and down to help chew food and make speech sounds.
17. Who developed the Uncertainty Principle?
Answer: Werner Heisenberg.
Werner Heisenberg created the “Uncertainty Principle” which is a hypothesis in quantum physics that states that the more precisely the position of a particle is determined, the less precise its momentum and vice versa.
The term uncertainty principle does not refer to just any kind of uncertainty; it refers to quantum mechanical uncertainty, which describes limits on knowledge reached through observation.
Specifically, this idea is usually rendered as follows: “the more precisely we know one variable (like position), the less precisely we know another variable (momentum). For example, if you were able to measure an electron’s position with infinite precision, then you couldn’t be sure about its momentum. The more accurately you measure one, the less accurate your measurement of the other will be. The principle establishes a fundamental relationship between the accuracy and precision of various measurements.
18. The human brain is composed of about _______ water.
Answer: 80%.
The human brain is about 80% water, and it takes up a little less than 2% of the body’s weight.
Water loss can cause problems with cognition and the brain’s ability to process information.
However, dehydration does not affect intelligence or learning capacity in adults.
Rather, it makes physical tasks more difficult and intense work more tiring.
19. What is the branch of science concerning the study of bodies in motion?
Answer: Kinetics.
Kinetics is the study of the motions and interactions of objects, and how they are influenced by physical forces. Kinetic energy is the energy that an object has due to its motion. For example, a swinging pendulum has kinetic energy because it gains kinetic energy as its swing gets higher and higher. When a pendulum swings back down again, it loses this same amount of kinetic energy.
Kinetics is closely related to another branch of physics called dynamics which deals with forces on objects that cause them to accelerate (change their speed) or decelerate (change their direction).
20. T-Rex is believed to eat its own weight in meat each week. How much did it eat?
Answer: 7 tons.
T-Rex is a dinosaur, the largest and most powerful land animal that has walked the Earth.
Most people know T-Rex as king of the dinosaurs but did you know he could also swim? T-Rex had three fingers on each hand with a thumb spike on one.
The average size of a T-Rex was 40 ft long, in height, and weighed about 7 tons. This weight can be broken down into 5% soft tissue (skin, muscle) and 95% bone. T-rex had teeth that were razor sharp with serrated edges to help it cut through flesh to get at the juicy inner parts of its prey.
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