Q 01/05

Stanley Watras exposed America's radon problem in 1984 by tripping alarms at what kind of workplace?

A) A uranium mine

B) A nuclear power plant

C) A hospital radiology ward

D) An airport checkpoint

Answer · why

B) A nuclear power plant

A nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania found him contaminated before its reactor had ever been fuelled. The radiation was traced to radon seeping into ...

Q 02/05

Radon gas tends to build up to its highest levels in which part of a house?

A) The basement

B) The kitchen

C) The top floor

D) The hallway

Answer · why

A) The basement

The basement collects radon because the gas is about eight times denser than air and seeps in through gaps in the foundation. Home test kits are hung ...

Q 03/05

Radon is ranked the second-biggest cause of lung cancer in the United States, behind only what?

A) Asbestos

B) Air pollution

C) Coal dust

D) Smoking

Answer · why

D) Smoking

Smoking is the only bigger cause, and the two are worse together, since radon is far riskier for people who also light up. The EPA links the gas to ab...

Q 04/05

Radon levels run high above shale and which rock, a favourite for kitchen countertops?

A) Marble

B) Sandstone

C) Granite

D) Chalk

Answer · why

C) Granite

Granite carries more uranium than most rocks, and that uranium slowly decays into radon. Even so, not every region built on the rock turns out to be a...

Q 05/05

In 1971 a spacecraft detected radon seeping from the Aristarchus plateau on which world?

A) Mars

B) Venus

C) Ganymede

D) The Moon

Answer · why

D) The Moon

The Moon gave itself away when Apollo 15 flew over Aristarchus and picked up a burst of radiation from decaying radon. The Lunar Prospector probe late...