Q 01/05

The wheel and axle is one of how many classical simple machines?

A) Six

B) Three

C) Eight

D) Five

Answer · why

A) Six

On its own a wheel is not a machine at all; it becomes one only when fixed to an axle turning in a bearing.

Q 02/05

The wheel almost certainly evolved from the prehistoric use of what to shift heavy loads?

A) Ox-drawn ropes

B) Sledges

C) Log rollers

D) Rafts

Answer · why

C) Log rollers

Rolling round tree trunks under stone slabs goes back so far it has never been dated.

Q 03/05

The English word 'wheel' shares a Proto-Indo-European root with which Sanskrit word for 'circle'?

A) Chakra

B) Karma

C) Dharma

D) Mandala

Answer · why

A) Chakra

Greek kúklos, the source of 'cycle', comes from the same root, meaning 'to revolve'.

Q 04/05

The oldest wooden wheel ever found was dug out of a marsh in 2002 in which country?

A) Egypt

B) Slovenia

C) Bulgaria

D) Iraq

Answer · why

B) Slovenia

It sat about 20 km south of Ljubljana in a prehistoric pile-dwelling settlement now on the UNESCO list.

Q 05/05

Roughly how old is the Ljubljana Marshes Wheel, according to radiocarbon dating?

A) About 5,200 years

B) About 1,500 years

C) About 8,000 years

D) About 3,000 years

Answer · why

A) About 5,200 years

That makes it older than the pyramids at Giza and roughly contemporary with the first Mesopotamian wagons.