Q 01/05

Which food do contestants race to eat at the Fourth of July contest on New York's Coney Island?

A) Hamburgers

B) Hot dogs

C) Chicken wings

D) Corn on the cob

Answer · why

B) Hot dogs

Hot dogs have been the challenge at the Nathan's Famous restaurant there most years since about 1972.

Q 02/05

Which material covers the Statue of Liberty, turning from shiny brown to green as it aged?

A) Copper

B) Iron

C) Bronze

D) Marble

Answer · why

A) Copper

Copper reacts with air and water, and the green layer that formed actually protects the statue from more damage.

Q 03/05

Which future president wrote most of the Declaration of Independence in about 17 days in June 1776?

A) Alexander Hamilton

B) Abraham Lincoln

C) Thomas Jefferson

D) Theodore Roosevelt

Answer · why

C) Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was picked for the job by a committee of five, and Congress then edited his draft before approving it.

Q 04/05

The Liberty Bell, a famous symbol of American freedom, is best known for which flaw?

A) A missing clapper

B) A melted handle

C) A rusty hole

D) A large crack

Answer · why

D) A large crack

A large crack appeared sometime in the first half of the 1800s, and nobody knows for certain when or how it happened.

Q 05/05

In which country were fireworks invented, many centuries before the United States existed?

A) Italy

B) China

C) India

D) Egypt

Answer · why

B) China

China had fireworks by the Song dynasty, which began in the year 960, and people there had long tossed bamboo into fires to make loud bangs.