Q 01/05

In 1989, scientists arranged 35 individual xenon atoms on a metal surface to spell the name of which company?

A) Intel

B) IBM

C) Xerox

D) Sony

Answer · why

B) IBM

IBM researcher Don Eigler nudged the atoms into place one at a time on a chilled nickel crystal. It was the first time anyone had precisely positioned...

Q 02/05

Helium turns a voice squeaky, but what does breathing in dense xenon gas do to a person's voice?

A) Makes it higher

B) Makes it hoarse

C) Makes it louder

D) Makes it deeper

Answer · why

D) Makes it deeper

Xenon makes it deeper because sound crawls through the heavy gas at just 169 metres per second. Many universities have banned the stunt, since xenon i...

Q 03/05

Xenon was the development codename of which Microsoft games console, released in 2005?

A) Xbox One

B) Original Xbox

C) Xbox 360

D) Xbox Series X

Answer · why

C) Xbox 360

Xbox 360 planning began in 2003 under the Xenon name. The label stuck to the hardware as well: the three-core processor inside the console is also cal...

Q 04/05

In 2025, four British climbers inhaled xenon before scaling which mountain on a trip lasting about a week?

A) Mount Kilimanjaro

B) Mount Everest

C) Aconcagua

D) Mont Blanc

Answer · why

B) Mount Everest

Mount Everest normally demands several weeks of acclimatisation, which the team said the gas let them skip. Mountaineering's world federation replied ...

Q 05/05

A build-up of neutron-absorbing xenon-135 in the reactor core contributed to which nuclear power plant disaster?

A) Three Mile Island

B) Fukushima Daiichi

C) Windscale

D) Chernobyl

Answer · why

D) Chernobyl

Chernobyl's reactor was throttled back for a safety test, and xenon-135 dragged its power to near-shutdown levels. Operators withdrew nearly all the c...