Q 01/05

Helium was first spotted in the light of which celestial body, decades before anyone found it on Earth?

A) Jupiter

B) The Pole Star

C) Neptune

D) The Sun

Answer · why

D) The Sun

The Sun gave helium away as an unknown yellow line in its spectrum, recorded during an 1868 eclipse. The element is named after helios, the Greek word...

Q 02/05

Why does a person's voice turn squeaky after inhaling helium from a party balloon?

A) The vocal cords tighten up

B) The throat cools down

C) Sound travels faster in it

D) The lungs briefly shrink

Answer · why

C) Sound travels faster in it

Sound travels faster in it, nearly three times as fast as in air, so the vocal tract resonates at higher frequencies. The vocal cords themselves vibra...

Q 03/05

The noble gas krypton shares its name with the doomed home planet of which comic-book superhero?

A) Superman

B) Hawkman

C) Green Lantern

D) Silver Surfer

Answer · why

A) Superman

Superman was sent to Earth from Krypton, a world his creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster named after the chemical element. Real krypton is a colourl...

Q 04/05

Signs of every colour get called neon signs, but pure neon gas itself glows which colour?

A) Hot pink

B) Reddish-orange

C) Yellowish-green

D) Pale violet

Answer · why

B) Reddish-orange

Reddish-orange is the only colour a tube of pure neon glows when electricity passes through it. Other shades come from different gases or from glowing...

Q 05/05

Radon seeping into homes is rated the top cause of which disease among Americans who have never smoked?

A) Leukaemia

B) Emphysema

C) Skin cancer

D) Lung cancer

Answer · why

D) Lung cancer

Lung cancer linked to radon kills about 21,000 Americans a year by official estimates, and only cigarettes cause more cases. The gas has no colour or ...