Science Trivia

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Fun Trivia questions and answers - Science.

What was the original purpose of ENIAC, the world's first "modern" computer?
A: To compute ballistic trajectories for artillery shells. ENIAC--an acronym for Electronic numerical integrator and Calculator --was introduced in 1946.

What gives the mineral turquoise its distinctive color?
A: Traces of copper.

What percentage of the average human brain is water?
A: 80 percent.

What does eccentricity mean to an astronomer?
A: The degree to which an orbit deviates from a circle. The eccentricity of Earth's orbit is 0.07.

What is alloyed with steel to make it stainless?
A: Chromium.

Which planet weighs over twice as much as all the other known planets combined?
A: Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.

How fast--in miles per hour---do the fastest messages transmitted by the human nervous system travel?
A: 180 to 200 miles per hour.

How many frames --or pictures -- per second are transmitted over American television?
A: 30.

In years past what was used as transmission oil in Rolls-Royce automobiles?
A: Spermaceti oil--from the sperm whale.

How many pointers were there on the first clocks with hands--made in the fourteenth century?
A: Only one, the hour hand.

What temperature does the tungsten filament in a n electric light reach when the ll9ght is turned on?
A: 2,577 Degrees C, or 4,664 degrees F.

Why did German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen name the invisible rays he discovered X-rays?
A: Because he had no idea what the mysterious rays were.

Who, long before Columbus, claimed the world was round, reasoning that if it were flat all the stars would be visible from all points on its surface?
A: Aristotle, who offered as added proof the fact that the earth casts a spherical shadow on the moon during an eclipse.

When did American sales of cassette recordings surpass those of long-playing records?
A: In 1983.

What product was originally called the Soundabout when it was introduced in the U.S. in 1970?
A: The Sony Walkman.

What do the letters represent in the acronym DNA -- the protein substance inside each cell that transmits genetic information from parent to child?
A: Deoxyribonucleic acid.

How long does a nanosecond last?
A: one billionth of a second.

How may different chemical reactions occur in the normal human brain every second?
A: At least 100,000.

In mathematics, what is the meaning of the term googol?
A: It represents the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes.

What word defines sounds too low for human hearing?
A: Infrasonic.

How did the element strontium--also known by the symbol SR and the atomic number 38--get its name?
A: From Strontian, the Scottish mining village in which it was discovered.

What reply did newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst receive when he sent a telegram to a leading astronomer asking "Is there life on Mars? Please cable on thousand words"?
A: "Nobody Knows" repeated 500 times.

How many pounds of lunar rock and soil were collected and brought back to Earth from America's six-expeditions to the moon?
A: 841.6.

What planet is most like earth in size, mass, density and gravity?
A: Venus.

What is the name of the computer program developed by the Los Angeles Police Department to help solve homicides?
A: HITMAN--for Homicide Information Tracking Management Automation Network.

What heavenly bodies have astronomers named after Brahms, Beethoven, Bach, the four Beatles and Eric Clapton--among others?
A Asteroids.