50 Fun Facts About Trivia for 11 Year Olds

Which dwarf planet, discovered in 1930, was given its name by an eleven-year-old English schoolgirl?

Pluto was the idea of Venetia Burney of Oxford, who loved classical mythology. Her grandfather passed it to an astronomy professor, who cabled it to the observatory that had made the discovery.

Which tiny birds can hover in mid-air, fly backwards and beat their wings dozens of times a second?

Hummingbirds are the only vertebrates capable of sustained hovering. The smallest of them, the bee hummingbird, is about 5 cm long and weighs less than 2 grams.

Which Paris landmark, built for the 1889 World's Fair, was originally due to be dismantled in 1909?

The Eiffel Tower was allowed to stay, and it remained the tallest human-made structure in the world for 41 years, until New York's Chrysler Building was finished.

Which popular snack 'nut' is really a legume whose pods ripen underground rather than on a tree?

Peanut plants belong to the pea and bean family, not to the nut trees. Botanist Carl Linnaeus named the species hypogaea, from the Greek for 'under the earth'.

Which toy brand from Billund, Denmark, takes its name from a Danish phrase meaning 'play well'?

Lego began in the workshop of carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, who started out making wooden toys in 1932. His company only began producing its interlocking plastic bricks in 1949.

Which Nintendo mascot was called Jumpman when he first appeared in the arcade game Donkey Kong?

Mario was a carpenter, not a plumber, in that first game, climbing a New York construction site to rescue Pauline from a giant gorilla.

Which day of the week bears the name of Thor, the hammer-wielding Norse god of thunder?

Thursday comes from the Old English for 'Thunor's day', Thunor being the Anglo-Saxon form of Thor. In most Romance languages the same day honours the Roman god of sky and thunder instead.

In which part of the human body is the stapes, the smallest and lightest bone, found?

Ear bones are tiny: the stapes, shaped like a stirrup, measures only 2 to 3 mm and passes sound vibrations on towards the inner ear.

Which birds, among the world's most intelligent animals, gather in a group known as a 'murder'?

Crows are clever enough that some species not only use tools but build them, and their brains are as large for their bodies as those of many primates.

Which animals, about a fifth of all mammal species, are the only mammals capable of true flight?

Bats fly on wings of thin skin stretched over long, spread-out finger bones, whereas flying squirrels, colugos and sugar gliders can only glide.

Which planet, the largest in the Solar System, has a giant storm called the Great Red Spot?

Jupiter has a volume 1,321 times that of Earth, and its famous storm has been recorded since 1831. In 2017 the spot still measured 1.3 times the width of our whole planet.

The gravity of the Moon and the Sun causes which rise and fall of the sea, usually twice a day?

Tides follow a cycle, so most coasts get two high waters and two low waters each day, and the two high waters are usually not even the same height.

What is molten rock called while it is still beneath the Earth's surface, before it erupts as lava?

Magma that rises through the crust may feed a volcano and pour out as lava, but some of it cools and hardens underground instead, never reaching daylight.

Which substance, the hardest in the human body, forms the outer coating of every tooth?

Enamel is about 96% mineral, which is what makes it so hard. Unlike many other tissues of the body, though, it has no way to regenerate itself once it has worn away.

Which gas do green plants take in from the air to make their own food using sunlight?

Carbon dioxide and water are the raw materials that plants turn into food with the energy of light. The process, photosynthesis, releases oxygen as a byproduct.

Which plant-eating dinosaur had a large bony frill behind its head and a long horn above each eye?

Triceratops lived about 69 to 66 million years ago in what is now western North America, where it was most likely hunted by Tyrannosaurus rex.

What kind of animal was Laika, the Moscow stray that became the first creature to orbit the Earth?

A dog from the streets was picked on purpose: Soviet scientists assumed Moscow strays had already learned to endure extreme cold and hunger. Laika flew aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957.

Which metal, the main ingredient of steel, is the most common element on Earth by mass?

Iron forms much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is also one of the few common metals, along with cobalt and nickel, that a magnet will attract.

Which gas, a form of oxygen, forms a high layer that absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet rays?

Ozone has three oxygen atoms in each molecule instead of the usual two. The layer it forms soaks up 97 to 99 percent of the Sun's medium-frequency ultraviolet light.

Which slow giant, a filter feeder that eats mostly plankton, is the largest living species of fish?

Whale shark mouths can hold more than 300 rows of tiny teeth, yet the animal filters its food from the water. The longest one reliably recorded measured 18.8 metres.

Which mountain, known in Nepali as Sagarmatha, is the highest on Earth above sea level?

Mount Everest had its first documented ascent in 1953, by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Its Nepali name can be translated literally as 'head in the sky'.

Which river pours more water into the ocean than the next seven largest rivers on Earth combined?

The Amazon releases about 215,000 to 230,000 cubic metres of water every second. Whether it is also the world's longest river is a title disputed with the Nile.

Which European country sits on a peninsula nicknamed 'the Boot' because of its shape on the map?

Italy stretches from the Alps down into the Mediterranean Sea, and besides its high-heeled peninsula it takes in nearly 800 islands, notably Sicily and Sardinia.

Which country, the second largest in the world by area, has the longest coastline of any nation?

Canada has about 243,000 km of coastline along the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans. Its red maple leaf flag is younger than it looks, adopted only in 1965.

Which country, the largest in South America, is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas?

Brazil took its language from Portugal after the explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral landed there in 1500, and it remained a colony until 1815.

Which US state, admitted in 1959, is the only one made up entirely of islands?

Hawaii consists of 137 volcanic islands and is completely surrounded by water. It is also the only US state that does not lie in North America.

Which monument, oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is the only one largely intact?

The Great Pyramid of Giza was built as the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu. At 146.6 metres when new, it was the tallest structure made by people for more than 3,700 years.

Which continent contains 54 fully recognised countries, among them Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco?

Africa is considered by most scientists who study early humans to be the oldest inhabited territory on Earth, the place where the human species began.

Which country's people gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States as a gift, dedicated in 1886?

France supplied the statue, whose sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi chose copper over bronze or stone because it was cheaper and lighter. Americans had to pay for the pedestal.

Mount Fuji, a snow-capped volcano on the island of Honshu, is the highest mountain of which country?

Japan's highest peak rises 3,776 metres near the Pacific coast, just southwest of Tokyo. Its summit has been thought of as sacred since ancient times.

Which queen, Egypt's last active pharaoh, was descended from a general of Alexander the Great?

Cleopatra spoke Greek as her first language, and she is the only ruler of her dynasty known to have learned the Egyptian language of the people she governed.

Which inventor, nicknamed the Wizard of Menlo Park, is known for the phonograph and the light bulb?

Thomas Edison set up at Menlo Park, New Jersey, what is now considered the first industrial research laboratory, and he drove his staff there extremely hard.

Which woman escaped slavery, then guided about 70 others to freedom on the Underground Railroad?

Harriet Tubman made some 13 rescue missions, travelling by night and in extreme secrecy. During the American Civil War she served the Union Army as an armed scout and spy.

Which author, left blind and deaf by an early illness, learned language from teacher Anne Sullivan?

Helen Keller went on to graduate from Radcliffe College in 1904, becoming the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Which Portuguese explorer led the first voyage around the world but was killed in the Philippines?

Ferdinand Magellan died in the Battle of Mactan in 1521, so it was the Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano who brought the surviving crew home the following year.

Which building in Rome, the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, hosted gladiator fights?

The Colosseum once had a retractable awning, the velarium, to keep sun and rain off the spectators, and it even briefly staged mock sea battles.

Which British ocean liner sank in 1912 after striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage to New York?

Titanic sailed with only twenty lifeboats, even though the davits fitted to her decks were capable of lowering 48 boats in total.

Which two bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, made the first controlled, powered aeroplane flight?

The Wright brothers' first flight, with Orville at the controls near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, covered just 120 feet in 12 seconds at under 7 miles per hour over the ground.

The ancient Olympic Games, traditionally dated from 776 BC, were held in honour of which Greek god?

Zeus was honoured at Olympia with a giant statue that was counted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The games themselves came round every four years.

Which Pakistani campaigner for girls' schooling received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, aged 17?

Malala Yousafzai shared the prize with Kailash Satyarthi of India, two years after a Taliban gunman shot her as she rode home on a bus from an exam.

Which Hogwarts house, whose mascot is a lion, values courage, nerve and chivalry above all?

Gryffindor wears red and gold, with Minerva McGonagall as its Head of House. It is named after Godric, one of the four wizards said to have founded the school.

Which author, a wartime fighter pilot, wrote Matilda, The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

Roald Dahl based Matilda's cruel headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, on a sweet-shop owner from his childhood, in whose jar of gobstoppers he and his friends once hid a dead mouse.

Which magical land does Lucy Pevensie first reach through a wardrobe in a spare room?

Narnia first appeared in a book that C. S. Lewis wrote for his goddaughter, Lucy Barfield, and dedicated to her. In the story Lucy visits three times, and only on the third are all her siblings with her.

In Roman numerals, where X means ten and M means one thousand, which letter stands for one hundred?

C began as a quite different sign that was shortened over time until it matched an ordinary Latin letter. The Latin word for a hundred, centum, also gives us the word century.

Which Spanish artist co-founded Cubism and painted the anti-war picture Guernica in 1937?

Pablo Picasso is also credited with co-inventing collage. His Guernica is a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of a town from the air during the Spanish Civil War.

Which composer went on writing music, including his Ninth Symphony, even as he lost his hearing?

Beethoven's hearing loss did not stop him composing, though it made playing at concerts, an important source of his income, increasingly difficult. His final symphony premiered in 1824.

Which family of instruments, sounded by vibrating the lips, includes the trumpet, trombone and tuba?

Brass instruments are about twice as long as the equivalent woodwind, and their players get a good range of notes simply by varying the tension of their lips.

In which penguin species does the male balance the egg on his feet through the Antarctic winter?

Emperor fathers eat nothing for more than two months while they shelter the egg, losing around 12 kg before it hatches. No other penguin breeds during the Antarctic winter.

Which Olympic event takes its name from a Greek battle of 490 BC and covers 42.195 kilometres?

Marathon runners cover a distance fixed in 1921, taken directly from the course used at the 1908 London Olympics. The name recalls the legend of a Greek messenger, Pheidippides.

Which Greek letter names the number, about 3.14, linking a circle's circumference to its diameter?

Pi was first written with its Greek letter by the Welsh mathematician William Jones in 1706, and Leonhard Euler later made the symbol popular.