Q 01/05

Which rifle appears on the national flag of Mozambique, crossed with a hoe over an open book?

A) M16

B) AK-47

C) FN FAL

D) Mauser

Answer · why

B) AK-47

The AK-47 on Mozambique's flag, shown with a bayonet fixed, stands for defence. No other national flag features a modern firearm.

Q 02/05

Which weapon of World War I got its name from a British cover story about water carriers?

A) Zeppelin

B) U-boat

C) Mortar

D) Tank

Answer · why

D) Tank

Tank began as a code word: British officials listed the secret landships as water carriers, then tanks, to hide what they were. They first fought at t...

Q 03/05

Which naval weapon takes its name from a Latin word for the electric ray, a fish that stuns prey?

A) Torpedo

B) Harpoon

C) Carronade

D) Polaris

Answer · why

A) Torpedo

Torpedo was first the name of the electric ray, from a Latin root for numbness. By 1776 the word was being used for floating explosive charges, long b...

Q 04/05

Which weapon did the Swiss folk hero William Tell use to shoot an apple off his son's head?

A) Musket

B) Crossbow

C) Javelin

D) Blunderbuss

Answer · why

B) Crossbow

Crossbow in hand, Tell splits the apple with a single bolt in the Swiss story. In 1139 a Church council prohibited using crossbows against fellow Chri...

Q 05/05

In which country did alchemists hunting for an elixir of life stumble on gunpowder in the ninth century?

A) China

B) India

C) Persia

D) Egypt

Answer · why

A) China

China's Taoist alchemists probably found gunpowder by accident while heating sulfur and saltpeter in search of immortality. One early text warns that ...