Q 01/05

Which soft drink was sold in the early 1930s as a Lithiated Lemon Soda, claiming to contain a lithium salt?

A) Sprite

B) Fanta

C) 7UP

D) Pepsi

Answer · why

C) 7UP

7UP's early labels read 7up Lithiated Lemon Soda and claimed it contained lithium citrate, a mood-stabilising salt. The word was dropped from the name...

Q 02/05

An informal unit of radiation dose is named after which fruit, a nod to the radioactive potassium-40 inside?

A) Banana

B) Avocado

C) Apricot

D) Coconut

Answer · why

A) Banana

Banana equivalent dose compares a radiation exposure with eating one banana, because about 0.012% of all natural potassium is the unstable isotope pot...

Q 03/05

Sodium and its fellow alkali metals are so soft that chemists routinely slice them at room temperature with what?

A) A hacksaw

B) A knife

C) A chisel

D) A blowtorch

Answer · why

B) A knife

A knife slices through any alkali metal, exposing a shiny surface that dulls rapidly as the metal reacts with the air around it.

Q 04/05

Sodium, a metal that reacts violently with water, combines with which poisonous gas to form ordinary table salt?

A) Fluorine

B) Ammonia

C) Ozone

D) Chlorine

Answer · why

D) Chlorine

Chlorine and sodium are each hazardous alone, yet bonded together they make the seasoning on every dinner table. Salt is about 39% sodium by weight.

Q 05/05

Sodium's symbol Na comes from natron, a salt mixture that ancient Egyptians used as a drying agent in which practice?

A) Mummification

B) Beer brewing

C) Papyrus making

D) Pyramid building

Answer · why

A) Mummification

Mummification relied on natron to draw the water out of a body before it was wrapped. Its Latin form, natrium, is why sodium's symbol looks nothing li...