Q 01/05

Which country supplies the vast majority of the world's niobium, mostly from a single mine?

A) Australia

B) Brazil

C) South Africa

D) Russia

Answer · why

B) Brazil

Brazil dominates through a single company, CBMM, which mines and refines the metal at Araxá. That one deposit could meet world demand for at least 200...

Q 02/05

Superconducting niobium-titanium wire is at the heart of which hospital imaging machines?

A) CT scanners

B) PET scanners

C) MRI scanners

D) Ultrasound scanners

Answer · why

C) MRI scanners

MRI scanners are the main commercial use of superconductors, and most of them rely on niobium-titanium coils. Chilled close to absolute zero, the wire...

Q 03/05

Which particle accelerator holds about 1,200 tonnes of niobium-titanium cable in its superconducting magnets?

A) Large Hadron Collider

B) Stanford Linear Collider

C) Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

D) Fermilab's Tevatron

Answer · why

A) Large Hadron Collider

Large Hadron Collider magnets are chilled to 1.9 kelvin, barely above absolute zero, so the cable loses all electrical resistance. Only then can it ca...

Q 04/05

Niobium-titanium magnets ride aboard which country's SCMaglev trains, one of which reached 603 km/h?

A) Germany

B) China

C) France

D) Japan

Answer · why

D) Japan

Japan developed the SCMaglev, whose onboard niobium-titanium coils lift the train clear of its guideway. A seven-car set reached that speed in April 2...

Q 05/05

The Merlin Vacuum's huge nozzle, made from a niobium alloy, flies on which company's rockets?

A) Boeing

B) SpaceX

C) Arianespace

D) Virgin Orbit

Answer · why

B) SpaceX

SpaceX fits the nozzle to the upper stage of its Falcon 9. It is cooled only by radiating its heat away, a job suited to niobium, which melts at about...