Trivia Challenge Questions and Answers

Trivia Challenge Questions Part 1

1) Who was the last man to walk on the moon?

Answer: Eugene Cernan

2) Which animal is not a rodent?
A) Capybara
B) Prairie dog
C) Titmouse
D) Squirrel
E) Porcupine

Answer: C
The titmouse is actually a type of bird.

3) In history, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803 from what country?

Answer: France

4) In its natural, unchopped state, which of these foods can be likened to a miniature tree?
A) Parsley
B) Zucchini
C) Potato
D) Ear of corn

Answer: A

5) Which poet used the character Sweeney to symbolize brutal 20th century mankind?
A) Robert Frost
B) T.S. Eliot
C) Robert Lowell
D) Robinson Jeffers
E) E.E. Cummings

Answer: B
Among other things, godless Sweeney is a rapist and murderer.

6) Gastrin is a hormone that is produced by glands found in the:
A) Kidney
B) Stomach
C) Liver
D) Pancreas
E) Small intestine

Answer: B
Gastrin stimulates the secretion of gastric juice.

7) In which year did the Berlin Wall come down?

Answer: 1989

8) What event marked the beginning of World War II?

Answer: Germany’s invasion of Poland
The actual fighting began when German troops crossed the border into Poland on September 1, 1939. Pledged to support Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The United States did not enter the war until December 1941.

9) In art history, which ear did Vincent van Gogh cut off, his left or his right?

Answer: His left

10) Why does snow appear white?
A) Each snow crystal grows around a piece of white dust
B) It retains the white part of the cloud from which it falls
C) Each crystal has many reflecting surfaces
D) To provide camouflage for polar bears

Answer: C
The large number of reflecting surfaces on each crystal makes snow appear white even though the individual crystals are transparent.

11) Who was the first actor to portray Hamlet, Lear and Macbeth?
A) Edwin Booth
B) Henry Irving
C) John Drew
D) Richard Burbage
E) David Garrick

Answer: D
Considered the first great English thespian, he premiered the plays of 7 different artists.

12) Which Frances Hodgson Burnett novel became a film hit in 1993?
A) The Secret Garden
B) Little Lord Fauntleroy
C) The Little Princess

Answer: A

13) In holidays, which U.S. federal observance occurs on the last Monday in May?

Answer: Memorial Day

14) Who was the first woman to swim the English Channel?

Answer: Gertrude Ederle

15) What was the name of the first American sent into space?

Answer: On May 5,1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. became the first American in space in a 15 minute, 28 second suborbital flight. John H. Glenn, Jr. became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth in 1962.

Trivia Challenge Questions Part 2

16) Which planet in the solar system is more than twice as big as all the others put together?

Answer: Jupiter

17) Which country is located immediately east of Chile?
A) Argentina
B) Peru
C) Uruguay
D) Colombia

Answer: A

18) A treatment which provides relief from, but does not cure, a disease is called:
A) Placebo
B) Velveteen
C) Keratome
D) Palliative
E) Hypo-allergenic

Answer: D
The word is derived from the latin “palliatus,” meaning “cloaked.”

19) What colorful sea lies at one end of the Great Wall of China?

Answer: The Yellow Sea

20) There are three types of recognized muscles in the human body. They are
A) Smooth, skeletal, and cardiac
B) Sinewy, cardiac, and ligamentary
C) Cardiac, ligamentary, and skeletal

Answer: A
There are three types of muscular tissue: smooth, skeletal, and cardiac. Smooth muscle is found in the skin, internal organs, reproductive system, major blood vessels, and excretory system. Most skeletal muscle is attached to the skeleton by tendons. Cardiac muscle composes most of the heart.

21) What is the world’s largest frog?

Answer: The goliath frog. It ranges in size from 4-16 inches. This frog is found mainly in the countries of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. They are one of the few amphibians alive today which inhabited the Earth prior to the dinosaurs.

22) Who was the first African American U.S. Secretary of State?

Answer: Colin Powell

23) The Niger Delta is located in which country?
A) Cameroon
B) Nigeria
C) Benin
D) Niger

Answer: B

24) What is the Shatt al Arab?
A) Plateau
B) Dry lake bed
C) Delta
D) Desert

Answer: C

25) In a star life cycle, the name given to a ball of gas that has not yet begun to produce light is a:
A) Nebula
B) Brown dwarf
C) Black hole

Answer: A

26) Who was the first Englishman to put a dinosaur on show?

Answer: Richard Owen

27) Ships are made from iron. The reason why they do not sink is because:
A) Iron has a density less than water
B) They have a large surface area of the hull
C) They are filled with air

Answer: B

28) A chemical reaction that gives out heat energy is called:
A) Endothermic
B) Exothermic
C) Explosive

Answer: B

29) Examples of reptiles are:
A) Snakes and turtles
B) Crocodiles and eels
C) Dinosaurs and lungfish

Answer: A

30) Who wrote Italian and Scottish symphonies?

Answer: Felix Mendelssohn