Q 01/05

What is the SI unit of measurement for heat?

A) Joule

B) Calorie

C) Watt

D) Kelvin

Answer · why

A) Joule

Joule is named after James Joule, who let a falling weight spin a paddle wheel in a barrel of water and showed that the stirring alone warmed it: work...

Q 02/05

Which American statesman invented a metal-lined fireplace in 1742 to give more heat with less smoke?

A) Thomas Jefferson

B) Benjamin Franklin

C) John Adams

D) Alexander Hamilton

Answer · why

B) Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin never patented his stove, or any other invention: having gained so much from other people's ideas, he said, we should be glad to sha...

Q 03/05

Which glass cookware brand was launched in 1915 after a physicist's wife tried baking in a sawn-off battery jar?

A) Duralex

B) Anchor Hocking

C) Pyrex

D) CorningWare

Answer · why

C) Pyrex

Pyrex grew out of glass made for railway lanterns: physicist Jesse Littleton took home a sawn-off battery jar of it, and his wife Bessie baked in it w...

Q 04/05

The word 'calorie' comes from 'calor', meaning 'heat' in which ancient language?

A) Greek

B) Sanskrit

C) Latin

D) Hebrew

Answer · why

C) Latin

Latin calor gave the French chemist Nicolas Clément a name for the unit of heat he defined for his students in lectures of the early 1820s, while stud...

Q 05/05

Which property of water makes the sea warm more slowly than land?

A) Surface tension

B) Specific heat capacity

C) Thermal conductivity

D) Boiling point

Answer · why

B) Specific heat capacity

Specific heat capacity is unusually high for water, so oceans soak up summer heat and give it back slowly, which is why coastal cities see smaller swi...