Q 01/05

How many times has the US Constitution been amended?

A) 3

B) 9

C) 27

D) 81

Answer · why

C) 27

27: ratification takes three-fourths of the states, a bar so high that thousands of proposed amendments have failed.

Q 02/05

How many essays make up The Federalist Papers?

A) 3

B) 9

C) 28

D) 85

Answer · why

D) 85

85: Hamilton, Madison and Jay wrote them under the pen name Publius to urge New Yorkers to ratify the proposed Constitution.

Q 03/05

Up to how many volts can the most powerful species of electric eel deliver?

A) 25

B) 80

C) 250

D) 860

Answer · why

D) 860

860: Humboldt's 1800 account of eels leaping out to shock horses was doubted for 200 years, until a 2016 study reported eels leaping at threats.

Q 04/05

Roughly how many living species of fish are known?

A) About 330

B) About 3,300

C) About 33,000

D) About 330,000

Answer · why

C) About 33,000

About 33,000: yet biologists no longer treat fish as one true group, because land vertebrates, humans included, evolved from lobe-finned fish.

Q 05/05

Over a lifetime, roughly how many teeth can some sharks shed?

A) Dozens

B) Hundreds

C) Thousands

D) Millions

Answer · why

C) Thousands

Thousands: sharks replace teeth continuously, and because their skeletons are cartilage, those hard teeth are often all that fossilizes.