Q 01/05

Petroleum formed mostly from the buried remains of which organisms, rather than dinosaurs?

A) Tree ferns

B) Plankton

C) Trilobites

D) Ammonites

Answer · why

B) Plankton

Plankton and algae sank to ancient seabeds and were buried under sediment. Heat and pressure then cooked them into oil over millions of years.

Q 02/05

Which ingredient of concrete and glass is the most consumed natural resource after fresh water?

A) Clay

B) Gypsum

C) Chalk

D) Sand

Answer · why

D) Sand

Sand suitable for concrete is in high demand, because plentiful desert sand does not work in the mix. Its grains are blown too round and smooth by the...

Q 03/05

Which continent holds more than half of all the fresh water on Earth?

A) Antarctica

B) Australia

C) South America

D) North America

Answer · why

A) Antarctica

Antarctica's ice sheet covers 98% of the continent and averages more than 2 kilometres thick. That ice holds about 61% of all the fresh water on the p...

Q 04/05

Which sea animals did fleets from Nantucket and New Bedford hunt for lamp oil before kerosene from petroleum took over?

A) Seals

B) Sharks

C) Whales

D) Walruses

Answer · why

C) Whales

Whales, especially sperm whales, supplied the brightest and cleanest-burning lamp oil. Once kerosene arrived the American whaling fleet shrank, and on...

Q 05/05

Which gas that cools MRI scanner magnets is a finite resource recovered from natural gas wells?

A) Neon

B) Helium

C) Krypton

D) Xenon

Answer · why

B) Helium

Helium is so light that once released into the air it escapes into space for good. Underground it builds up from radioactive decay and gets trapped al...