Q 01/05

Which Canadian bay, squeezed between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, is famed for the highest tides in the world?

A) James Bay

B) Bay of Fundy

C) Baffin Bay

D) Georgian Bay

Answer · why

B) Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy narrows like a funnel, so its water level can swing by about 16 metres, while the tidal range in the open ocean is only about one met...

Q 02/05

Which wave, usually set off by an undersea earthquake, is wrongly called a tidal wave although tides play no part?

A) Tsunami

B) Rogue wave

C) Storm surge

D) Ground swell

Answer · why

A) Tsunami

A tsunami is water shoved aside by a quake, landslide or eruption, so scientists dropped the old label. The Japanese name means 'harbour wave'.

Q 03/05

The word 'tide' comes from an Old English word, also found in 'Yuletide', that originally meant what?

A) Water

B) Flood

C) Time

D) Moon

Answer · why

C) Time

Time is what the Old English word 'tid' meant, and the sea sense probably grew out of the phrase for the hour of high water.

Q 04/05

Which 11th-century king of England, in a famous legend, set his throne on the shore and ordered the tide to stop?

A) Edward the Confessor

B) Harold Godwinson

C) Ethelred the Unready

D) Canute the Great

Answer · why

D) Canute the Great

Canute the Great got wet feet in the tale, first written down in the 12th century, and then told his flattering courtiers that a ruler's power is empt...

Q 05/05

The Sun outweighs the Moon about 27 million to one, so why does the Moon raise bigger tides on Earth?

A) It is far closer

B) It spins more slowly

C) It has no atmosphere

D) It reflects sunlight

Answer · why

A) It is far closer

It is far closer, and tide-raising force fades with the cube of distance. The Sun sits about 390 times farther away, so its pull on the oceans is roug...