Q 01/05

Formaldehyde is sold dissolved in water, but what is the pure compound at room temperature?

A) A clear oily liquid

B) A colorless gas

C) A white powder

D) A waxy solid

Answer · why

B) A colorless gas

A colorless gas with a sharp smell is the pure form, which is why it is handled in water: condensed to a liquid, it quickly links itself into a solid.

Q 02/05

Which British artist suspended a tiger shark in a tank of formaldehyde for a 1991 artwork?

A) Damien Hirst

B) Tracey Emin

C) Antony Gormley

D) Anish Kapoor

Answer · why

A) Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst paid £6,000 for the shark, and the original decayed so badly that a new specimen replaced it in 2006.

Q 03/05

In the early 1900s, US bottling plants added formaldehyde to which drink to stop it spoiling?

A) Beer

B) Cider

C) Milk

D) Wine

Answer · why

C) Milk

Milk was dosed with formaldehyde as a cheap stand-in for pasteurization, at a time when few people understood how toxic the chemical was.

Q 04/05

Which paralyzing disease was targeted by a 1955 vaccine made from virus killed with formaldehyde?

A) Measles

B) Smallpox

C) Rabies

D) Polio

Answer · why

D) Polio

Polio was the target of Jonas Salk's shot, which grew three strains of the virus in monkey kidney cells and then inactivated them with a formaldehyde ...

Q 05/05

Which hurricane's survivors were housed in FEMA trailers that gave off toxic levels of formaldehyde?

A) Andrew

B) Katrina

C) Florence

D) Harvey

Answer · why

B) Katrina

Katrina survivors in the trailers reported breathing trouble, eye irritation and nosebleeds, and tests traced the cause to formaldehyde given off by t...