Q 01/05

Which famous name on American cake mixes was invented by a Minneapolis flour company and was never a real person?

A) Sara Lee

B) Betty Crocker

C) Duncan Hines

D) Marie Callender

Answer · why

B) Betty Crocker

Betty Crocker was created in 1921 by the Washburn-Crosby Company, later General Mills, to sign replies to customers' questions. The surname honored a ...

Q 02/05

Which kitchen appliance grew out of an engineer noticing that radar equipment had melted the candy bar in his pocket?

A) Microwave oven

B) Electric kettle

C) Pressure cooker

D) Toaster oven

Answer · why

A) Microwave oven

The microwave oven began with Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer in 1945. The first food he cooked on purpose was popcorn; the second was an egg, which e...

Q 03/05

Which fastener was inspired by burrs that clung to a Swiss engineer's clothes and his dog's fur after a hunting trip?

A) Zipper

B) Press stud

C) Velcro

D) Safety pin

Answer · why

C) Velcro

Velcro takes its name from the French words for velvet and hook, velours and crochet. George de Mestral conceived it in 1941 after studying burdock bu...

Q 04/05

Heating milk to kill harmful germs is a process named after which French scientist?

A) Marie Curie

B) Blaise Pascal

C) Antoine Lavoisier

D) Louis Pasteur

Answer · why

D) Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur was not working on milk at all: his research in the 1860s showed that heating would deactivate the unwanted microbes that spoiled wine.

Q 05/05

Which American inventor pioneered quick-frozen food after watching Inuit freeze freshly caught fish in Labrador?

A) Clarence Birdseye

B) Orville Redenbacher

C) Henry J. Heinz

D) Oscar Mayer

Answer · why

A) Clarence Birdseye

Clarence Birdseye worked in Labrador's fur trade in the 1910s, where he saw that fish frozen fast in Arctic air kept its texture. He founded General S...