110 Fun Facts About Trivia for Teens

Which metal has the chemical symbol Au?

Au comes from aurum, the Latin word for gold, which is why the symbol looks nothing like the English name.

Which planet is the largest in our solar system?

Jupiter is so big that about 1,300 Earths could fit inside it.

What is the hardest naturally occurring material known?

Diamond and pencil graphite are both pure carbon; the difference is entirely in how the atoms are bonded.

Which part of a cell is nicknamed the 'powerhouse of the cell'?

The nickname was popularised by a 1957 Scientific American article with exactly that title.

Roughly what percentage of dry air is nitrogen?

Oxygen makes up only about 21 percent; the rest is nitrogen, argon and traces of other gases.

After the Sun, which star is closest to Earth?

Even at 4.25 light-years, a probe travelling at the speed of today's fastest spacecraft would need thousands of years to reach it.

What does DNA stand for?

DNA's two strands coil around each other in the famous double helix shape.

About how long does sunlight take to reach Earth?

If the Sun switched off, we would not notice for over eight minutes because its last light would still be on the way.

Which planet is the hottest in the solar system?

Its thick carbon dioxide atmosphere traps heat, making it hotter than Mercury even though Mercury is closer to the Sun.

Mars has two moons: Phobos and which other?

Both moons are small and lumpy, and Phobos is slowly spiralling inward toward the planet.

Which blood type is known as the 'universal donor'?

O negative red cells lack the A, B and Rh D markers that can trigger a reaction in a recipient.

How many bones does an adult human body typically have?

Babies are born with around 270 bones, and many fuse together as we grow.

What is the largest organ of the human body?

It makes up roughly 16 percent of your body mass.

How many chambers does the human heart have?

Two atria receive blood and two ventricles pump it out again.

Which is the largest and deepest ocean on Earth?

It covers more area than all of Earth's land put together.

What is the capital city of Australia?

It was purpose-built as a compromise after Sydney and Melbourne both wanted to be the capital.

Which country became the world's most populous in 2023?

Its population passed 1.4 billion, edging ahead of China for the first time in centuries.

Which country is the largest in the world by area?

It spans eleven time zones and shares land borders with fourteen countries.

Mount Everest sits on the border between China and which other country?

Most climbers approach from the Nepali side via the South Col route.

Which is the largest hot desert on Earth?

Only the two polar deserts are bigger.

Which continent has the most countries?

It has 54 recognised sovereign states, from Algeria to Zimbabwe.

What is the capital of Canada?

Toronto is the biggest city, but the seat of government is on the Ontario-Quebec border.

Counting overseas territories, which country has the most time zones?

Its territories stretch from the Caribbean to French Polynesia, giving it 12 time zones.

Which is the smallest sovereign state in the world?

It covers just 44 hectares inside the city of Rome.

About 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest lies in which country?

Peru is a distant second with around 13 percent of the forest.

Which continent is the largest by area?

It is the biggest by both land area and population, home to more than half of all people on Earth.

The Great Barrier Reef lies off the coast of which Australian state?

It sits in the Coral Sea, separated from the coast by a channel that is up to 160 km wide.

Which continent is the coldest, driest and windiest on Earth?

Despite all that ice, it counts as a desert because it gets only a few centimetres of precipitation a year.

In which year did Apollo 11 land the first humans on the Moon?

Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface first, followed by Buzz Aldrin.

In which year did the Titanic sink?

The wreck was not found until 1985, when it turned out the ship had broken in two.

In which year did the Berlin Wall fall?

East Germany announced on 9 November that citizens could cross freely, and crowds began tearing at the wall that night.

Whose portrait is on the US $100 bill?

That is why hundred-dollar bills are nicknamed 'Benjamins'; he was never president.

In which year did World War II end?

Germany surrendered in May and Japan signed its surrender in September of the same year.

Which of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is still largely standing?

It is also the oldest of the seven, built as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu.

Which English king sealed Magna Carta in 1215?

He agreed to it at Runnymede under pressure from rebel barons.

In which city did Rosa Parks refuse to give up her bus seat in 1955?

Her arrest sparked a bus boycott that lasted more than a year.

Machu Picchu was built by which civilization?

The mountaintop citadel in Peru was probably an estate for the emperor Pachacuti.

The US Declaration of Independence was adopted in which city?

The building where it happened was later renamed Independence Hall.

Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of which month?

The Ides fell on the 15th, and 'Beware the Ides of March' comes from Shakespeare's play about him.

Which film is the highest-grossing of all time worldwide?

It briefly lost the crown to Avengers: Endgame before a 2021 re-release in China put it back on top.

Who played Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

He played the role in ten MCU films, starting with the 2008 movie that launched the whole franchise.

What is the name of Harry Potter's owl?

J.K. Rowling said the owl's death in the final book represents a loss of innocence and security.

Stranger Things is set in the town of Hawkins, in which US state?

Hawkins is fictional, described in the show as the town where nothing ever happens.

In Frozen, Elsa and Anna are princesses of which kingdom?

Elsa's powers accidentally plunge the kingdom into an eternal winter.

Who directed the 2023 Barbie movie?

She co-wrote the screenplay with her husband, Noah Baumbach.

Who voices Shrek in the animated films?

He gives the ogre a Scottish accent; Eddie Murphy voices Donkey.

In which underwater city does SpongeBob SquarePants live?

The city is named after the real Bikini Atoll, once a US nuclear test site.

Which 1995 film was the first entirely computer-animated feature film?

It was also the first feature film made by Pixar.

Black Panther is the king of which fictional nation?

Director Ryan Coogler said his film version was partly inspired by the real kingdom of Lesotho.

Which new emotion takes control of Riley's mind in Inside Out 2?

Four new emotions arrive as Riley hits puberty, but this one seizes the console.

Who plays Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday?

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán play her parents Morticia and Gomez.

How many Infinity Stones does Thanos collect in the Marvel films?

They control Space, Mind, Reality, Power, Time and Soul.

Which Taylor Swift concert series became the first ever to gross more than $1 billion?

It went on to pass $2 billion, and its concert film became the highest-grossing concert film in history.

BTS's Korean name, Bangtan Sonyeondan, literally translates to what?

The group formed in 2010 and debuted in 2013.

Billie Eilish writes and produces her music with which family member?

Finneas is credited on every one of her projects and has won Grammys and Oscars alongside her.

The Beatles formed in which English city?

They built their reputation playing clubs there and in Hamburg, Germany.

How many keys does a standard modern piano have?

That is 52 white keys and 36 black keys, spanning just over seven octaves.

What was Olivia Rodrigo's debut single?

It had the biggest opening week for a debut single in the UK since Zayn's 'Pillowtalk'.

Beyoncé first found fame in which girl group?

The group's manager was her father, Mathew Knowles.

Which Michael Jackson album is the best-selling album of all time?

It has sold an estimated 70 million copies worldwide.

Which of these singers is a member of Blackpink?

The group has four members: Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa.

Which city hosted the 2024 Summer Olympics?

The opening ceremony was held on the River Seine rather than in a stadium, a first for the modern Games.

How many players does each soccer team have on the pitch at once?

One of the eleven must be the goalkeeper.

Who is the NBA's all-time leading points scorer?

He passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record in February 2023.

The Super Bowl is the championship game of which league?

The name 'Super Bowl' was only adopted for the third game, in 1969.

Who is the most decorated gymnast in history?

Her 11 Olympic and 30 World Championship medals are more than any gymnast has ever won.

Which country won the 2022 FIFA World Cup?

The final ended 3-3 after extra time and was decided on penalties.

How many points is a touchdown worth in American football?

A touchdown is followed by a chance at an extra point or a two-point conversion.

How many Olympic medals did swimmer Michael Phelps win in total?

That is more than any other athlete in Olympic history, across four Games.

How long is a marathon?

The odd distance was fixed in 1921, copied from the course used at the 1908 London Olympics.

How high is the rim of a regulation basketball hoop?

That height has stayed the same since the game was invented in 1891.

Which Swedish company developed Minecraft?

Microsoft bought the studio and the game in 2014 for $2.5 billion.

Which company makes the PlayStation consoles?

The first PlayStation launched in Japan in 1994 and became the first console to ship 100 million units.

Which studio created Fortnite?

The battle royale mode drew more than 125 million players in under a year.

YouTube's three founders had all previously worked at which company?

Google bought the site the following year, in 2006, for $1.65 billion.

Which company created TikTok, launching it internationally in 2017?

It also runs Douyin, the Chinese version of the app that launched first, in 2016.

Which studio developed Among Us?

The game came out in 2018 but only exploded in 2020, when streamers picked it up during lockdown.

In Nintendo's games, how is Luigi related to Mario?

He is the slightly younger, taller twin, and the better jumper.

What does HTML stand for?

It is the standard language for documents designed to be shown in a web browser.

Which Pokémon does Pikachu evolve into?

In the games it takes a Thunder Stone to trigger the evolution.

Which company bought Instagram for about $1 billion in 2012?

At the time Instagram had just 13 employees.

In The Legend of Zelda games, what is the name of the hero you play as?

Zelda is the princess; the green-clad hero is almost always silent.

The Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 in which country?

Its inventor, Ernő Rubik, was a professor of architecture in Budapest.

Lego bricks come from a company based in which country?

The company began in a carpenter's workshop in the small town of Billund.

The word 'emoji' comes from which language?

It combines 'e' (picture) and 'moji' (character); its resemblance to 'emotion' is a coincidence.

What is the fastest land animal?

It can hit around 100 km/h in short bursts thanks to a flexible spine and long limbs.

What is the largest animal known to have ever existed?

It can reach about 30 metres long and weigh up to 200 tonnes.

What is a group of lions called?

A pride is mostly related females and cubs with one or a few adult males.

Which animal has three hearts?

One heart pumps blood around the body and two pump it through the gills.

What is the tallest living land animal?

It is also the largest ruminant on Earth.

Koalas feed almost entirely on the leaves of which tree?

Out of 600-plus species available, they strongly prefer only around 30.

Which bird is the fastest animal on the planet when diving?

In a stoop it can pass 320 km/h; the fastest recorded was around 390 km/h.

Which is the only mammal capable of true, sustained flight?

Flying squirrels and colugos only glide.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen comes from which part of Panem?

It is the poorest district in Panem, located in Appalachia.

Which Greek god is Percy Jackson's father?

His sword Riptide was given to him on his father's instructions.

Who wrote the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series?

He is also a cartoonist and created the online game Poptropica.

Who wrote The Fault in Our Stars?

The title comes from a line in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is set in which Italian city?

The Prince of the city banishes Romeo after the street fight that kills Tybalt.

What is the value of pi to two decimal places?

It is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, and its digits never end or repeat.

Which is the only even prime number?

Every other even number can be divided by 2, so it cannot be prime.

The interior angles of a triangle always add up to how many degrees?

That is true on a flat surface; on a sphere the angles add up to more.

Guacamole is made mainly from which fruit?

The name comes from the Nahuatl word āhuacamōlli, literally 'avocado sauce'.

Nutella is a chocolate spread made with which nut?

It comes from Alba, an Italian town famous for growing hazelnuts.

Roughly how many people watched Travis Scott's 'Astronomical' concert in Fortnite in April 2020?

The three-day event also came with a Travis Scott outfit in the item shop and boosted sales of Cactus Jack action figures.

The Kelce brothers' podcast name is a nod to what?

Within weeks of launching in 2022 it was the most-listened-to sports podcast on Spotify.

The animated show Total Drama is a parody of reality competitions like which series above all?

Campers get voted off at a marshmallow ceremony and leave via the Dock of Shame and the Boat of Losers.

The Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is a loose adaptation of which classic novel?

Robert Louis Stevenson's pirate tale has inspired more than 50 screen versions, from Muppets to Treasure Planet.

The Toronto Raptors' G League team, Raptors 905, is named after what?

The Mississauga-based club began play in 2015-16, the same year the Raptors added Norman Powell in the draft.

In Transformers: Beast Wars, who leads the Maximals?

The Maximals and Predacons crash-land on prehistoric Earth and take animal forms to survive its Energon-soaked environment.

Rapper Travis Scott built his stage name from his favourite uncle's name and whose first name?

Born Jacques Webster II, he cites Kid Cudi as one of his biggest inspirations alongside Kanye West and Björk.