Q 01/05

Which everyday metal was still a costly rarity in 1884, when it capped the Washington Monument?

A) Aluminum

B) Platinum

C) Nickel

D) Chromium

Answer · why

A) Aluminum

Aluminum cost about as much as a precious metal when the monument's tip was cast. Two years later a new electrical process made it far easier to produ...

Q 02/05

First-place medals at the Olympic Games must be made of at least 92.5 percent which metal?

A) Gold

B) Silver

C) Copper

D) Nickel

Answer · why

B) Silver

Silver makes up nearly all of an Olympic champion's medal, which carries just six grams of plating in the metal it is named for. Solid versions were l...

Q 03/05

Which metal forms the thin skin of the Statue of Liberty, which was a shiny reddish-brown when new?

A) Bronze

B) Brass

C) Copper

D) Cast iron

Answer · why

C) Copper

Copper sheets were hammered into shape for the statue, and within about twenty years the air had turned them green. That crust, called verdigris, now ...

Q 04/05

Which metal, long used in thermometers and barometers, is the only one liquid at room temperature?

A) Gallium

B) Cesium

C) Mercury

D) Rubidium

Answer · why

C) Mercury

Mercury is also known as quicksilver for the way it runs and shines, and its symbol, Hg, comes from the Latin hydrargyrum. Many countries have banned ...

Q 05/05

Which soft, heavy metal, used for ancient Rome's water pipes, gave English the word plumbing?

A) Iron

B) Lead

C) Bronze

D) Copper

Answer · why

B) Lead

Lead was plumbum to the Romans, whose pipes were made of it, and the same Latin word explains its chemical symbol, Pb.