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45 inventions and discovery trivia questions and answers

Gadgets, transport, medicine, plastics and computers, and the people who invented them.

45 questions · Inventions and discovery trivia questions and answers · answers included

Updated

Inventions and discovery trivia questions and answers

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Space shows the answer, then the next card. Arrow keys move. With scores on, keys 1 to 6 add a team point. F fills the screen. Escape closes play.

Questions 1–20

  1. 1

    Who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web?

    medium

    Answer

    Berners-Lee

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee?oldid=1364264098

  2. 2

    Which invention lets people see distant objects in space?

    easy

    Answer

    A telescope

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescope?oldid=1352125963

  3. 3

    What household machine keeps food cold?

    easy

    Answer

    A refrigerator

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator?oldid=1362715767

  4. 4

    Which brothers built and flew the first successful powered airplane?

    easy

    Answer

    The Wright brothers

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers?oldid=1363216710

  5. 5

    What did Alexander Graham Bell receive the first U.S. patent for in 1876?

    easy

    Answer

    The telephone

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell?oldid=1366001031

  6. 6

    Which invention uses a needle to show magnetic north?

    easy

    Answer

    Compass

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass?oldid=1362279305#Design

  7. 7

    What machine did Johannes Gutenberg improve for mass-producing books?

    easy

    Answer

    Movable-type printing press

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press?oldid=1364130523#History

  8. 8

    Which device turns sunlight directly into electricity?

    medium

    Answer

    A solar cell

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell?oldid=1361196839

  9. 9

    What technology was Percy Spencer’s microwave oven based on?

    medium

    Answer

    British radar technology

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven?oldid=1365212135

  10. 10

    What did Louis Braille create for readers who are blind?

    easy

    Answer

    A tactile writing system

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille?oldid=1363763862

  11. 11

    What process inscribes and recreates sound waves?

    medium

    Answer

    Sound recording and reproduction

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_recording_and_reproduction?oldid=1365449655

  12. 12

    What safety device inflates during a car crash?

    easy

    Answer

    An airbag

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbag?oldid=1354934129

  13. 13

    Who demonstrated in 1796 that cowpox infection conferred immunity against smallpox?

    medium

    Answer

    Edward Jenner

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine?oldid=1362191119

  14. 14

    What did the first practical steam engines pump out of mines?

    hard

    Answer

    Water

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_engine?oldid=1364866925

  15. 15

    Which office invention fastens papers with a small bent wire?

    easy

    Answer

    A paper clip

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_clip?oldid=1356536849

  16. 16

    What is point-to-point distance communication by electric signals over wire?

    medium

    Answer

    Electrical telegraphy

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_telegraph?oldid=1365702343

  17. 17

    What was Velcro inspired by in nature?

    medium

    Answer

    Burs of burdock

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velcro?oldid=1365770566#History

  18. 18

    Who produced and detected the radiation now known as X-rays?

    medium

    Answer

    Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_R%C3%B6ntgen?oldid=1358692749

  19. 19

    What did the invention of the bar code make faster at store checkouts?

    easy

    Answer

    Automate supermarket checkout systems

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode?oldid=1365928510

  20. 20

    Elisha Otis's safety device of 1853 stops an elevator from doing what if its cable fails?

    medium

    Answer

    Falling

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Otis?oldid=1365889810

Questions 21–40

  1. 21

    What links a keyboard, a ribbon, and a carriage return?

    easy

    Answer

    A typewriter

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter?oldid=1365428254

  2. 22

    How did penicillin first reveal itself to Alexander Fleming?

    medium

    Answer

    The mold killed the bacteria

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_penicillin?oldid=1364421317#Background

  3. 23

    Who invented the phonograph in 1877?

    medium

    Answer

    Thomas Edison

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph?oldid=1364939187

  4. 24

    What is the purpose of a seismograph?

    medium

    Answer

    A continuous record of ground motion

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismometer?oldid=1351431406#Nomenclature

  5. 25

    Which engineer’s improved engine used a separate condenser to save fuel?

    hard

    Answer

    Watt

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watt?oldid=1364471942

  6. 26

    At sea, which navigation problem did the marine chronometer help sailors solve?

    hard

    Answer

    Calculating longitude

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_chronometer?oldid=1347030045#History

  7. 27

    Which material did Charles Goodyear make more useful through vulcanization?

    medium

    Answer

    Rubber

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcanization?oldid=1355226272#History

  8. 28

    ENIAC could electronically solve which broad class of problems?

    hard

    Answer

    A large class of numerical problems

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC?oldid=1365289299

  9. 29

    Which physicist shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for discovering radioactivity?

    hard

    Answer

    Henri Becquerel

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Becquerel?oldid=1361409560

  10. 30

    How does a gyroscope help a vehicle navigate?

    hard

    Answer

    Measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscope?oldid=1360681379

  11. 31

    What was the original purpose of bubble wrap?

    hard

    Answer

    Wallpaper

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Wrap_(brand)?oldid=1272843340#History

  12. 32

    Which laboratory tool did Robert Bunsen help popularize for heating?

    easy

    Answer

    A Bunsen burner

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunsen_burner?oldid=1310422827

  13. 33

    What makes the gap in a thermos slow heat transfer?

    medium

    Answer

    Partially evacuated of air

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_flask?oldid=1356376168

  14. 34

    What kind of traffic signal did Garrett Morgan design?

    hard

    Answer

    A manually operated traffic signal

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrett_Morgan?oldid=1361168428#Traffic_signal

  15. 35

    What did Ada Lovelace describe for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine?

    hard

    Answer

    The algorithm in Note G

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace?oldid=1360639004#First_published_computer_program

  16. 36

    Which process uses light to make detailed patterns on computer chips?

    hard

    Answer

    Photolithography

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photolithography?oldid=1360556521

  17. 37

    What was the first synthetic plastic called?

    hard

    Answer

    Bakelite

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite?oldid=1365791986

  18. 38

    Who developed the pasteurization process named after him?

    easy

    Answer

    Louis Pasteur

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasteurization?oldid=1365836055

  19. 39

    What principle allows a hydraulic press to multiply force?

    hard

    Answer

    Pascal's principle

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_law?oldid=1363145553#Applications

  20. 40

    Which invention did Hedy Lamarr co-design using frequency hopping?

    hard

    Answer

    A radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr?oldid=1365774365

Questions 41–45

  1. 41

    How does a catalytic converter reduce harmful car exhaust?

    medium

    Answer

    By catalyzing a redox reaction

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_converter?oldid=1365087910

  2. 42

    Which two inventors independently created the first AC commutator-free polyphase induction motors?

    hard

    Answer

    Galileo Ferraris and Nikola Tesla

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_motor?oldid=1357672203#History

  3. 43

    What does CRISPR-Cas9 allow scientists to change with high precision?

    medium

    Answer

    The genomes of living organisms

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR_gene_editing?oldid=1363447485

  4. 44

    Which device made by Evangelista Torricelli measures atmospheric pressure?

    medium

    Answer

    The barometer

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barometer?oldid=1365704103#History

  5. 45

    Why did the Haber-Bosch process transform agriculture?

    hard

    Answer

    Increase the productivity of agricultural land

    Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process?oldid=1352979226#Economic_and_environmental_aspects

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Team Lime's turn

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