# Interesting Science Quiz **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238 "2012-01-12T00:31:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/21 "2012-01-12T03:22:16Z")
BTW OP, did you find that quiz the same way I did, through the Google doodle? ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/22 "2012-01-12T03:26:41Z")
48/50. Missed one math constant question and one physics symbol question, but I have never taken a physics class or math higher than algebra in college. I am a retired HS science teacher, but I never taught physics. That was one slow-moving quiz. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/23 "2012-01-12T03:29:48Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > 44/50. A couple of them surprised me. > > Why is the gravity on Mars so low? The question talks about gravity _at the surface of the planet_. While Mars is twice as massive than Mercury, its surface is farther away from its center than Mercury’s surface is because Mars is also physically larger than Mercury. So, it coincidentally turns out that everything is in such a proportion that things pretty much cancel out. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/24 "2012-01-12T03:43:42Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > The question talks about gravity _at the surface of the planet_. While Mars is twice as massive than Mercury, its surface is farther away from its center than Mercury’s surface is because Mars is also physically larger than Mercury. So, it coincidentally turns out that everything is in such a proportion that things pretty much cancel out. To show the calculations, given that the mass of Mars is 0.107 times that of the Earth and that its radius is 0.532 times that of Earth, and that the mass of Mercury is 0.0553 that of Earth, while its radius is 0.383 that of earth, the surface gravity of these two planets proportionate to that of the Earth is given by the equation _g_ = _m_/_r_[SUP]2[/SUP]. Plugging and chugging for Mars gives _g_ = 0.107/(0.532)[SUP]2[/SUP] = 0.378. And for Mercury, the equation gives _g_ = 0.0553/(0.383)[SUP]2[/SUP] = 0.377. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/25 "2012-01-12T03:59:31Z")
1. I am apparently bad at guessing. I couldn’t remember if it was Ceres or Eris that was huge, and I didn’t know the surface gravity question, as I’m unfamiliar with densities and I think I misread the question anyway. I also missed the water-moon one. I felt like the kid in Slumdog Millionaire, with a story for how I knew each one. ETA: I don’t think it was a bad test. It’s about scientific _literacy_, so if you’re not well-read enough to know that the smallest units are named after Max Planck, then you should miss that one. And if I tell you that my 1920s death ray looks like a scalene triangle, and you give me a blank stare, you should miss that one, too. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/26 "2012-01-12T04:12:22Z")
45/50. That site is maddeningly slow… ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/27 "2012-01-12T04:15:33Z")
50/50 - I’m a science teacher so most of the questions are stuff I deal with in class frequently. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/28 "2012-01-12T04:22:35Z")
48/50 1. Said “Nyx” was larger than Pluto. 2. Said Watt named his unit BTU. ---
**Author:** ![RoeCocoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7feea3/32.png) [@RoeCocoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoeCocoa)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/29 "2012-01-12T04:41:32Z")
40/50. Would have been higher, but I decided not to go back and change the ones I got wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/30 "2012-01-12T04:41:35Z")
46/50. I should have gotten 47 but I absent-mindedly clicked helium instead of hydrogen for the single proton question. (I knew it was hydrogen, but for some reason helium was the first word that popped into my head.) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/31 "2012-01-12T04:42:30Z")
I got 46/50. But the questions often gave additional information that made it easy to guess the correct answer. And yes, it’s slow. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/32 "2012-01-12T04:53:13Z")
39, but if I’d gone with my first thought on six or seven questions, I’d have come out with a 45 or so. Not bad for someone who hasn’t thought about pea plant genetics since high school. And yes, having a periodic table at hand would definitely help with some of the questions. (Who actually needs to memorize elements by their numbers in real life?) ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/33 "2012-01-12T05:14:10Z")
43/50 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/34 "2012-01-12T05:42:31Z")
I suck at astronomy questions. Seriously had no idea how long light takes to travel from the sun. 😛 All the other questions were pretty easy though. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/35 "2012-01-12T05:50:24Z")
48/50Got “Mars” and “Nimbus” wrong ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/36 "2012-01-12T06:07:58Z")
43/50 I should have done better, being a “Chemical Engineer”, or whatever my diploma says. A lot of those questions though - even the chemical ones - I had to think back to college. Which was like eight years ago. Yeah, you don’t use a whole lot of University learning when practicing as an actual engineer. Fun quiz though. The questions I missed sent me straight to wikipedia to find out the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/37 "2012-01-12T06:40:42Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > Yeah, you don’t use a whole lot of University learning when practicing as an actual engineer. It’s surprising how you forget the little things. Out of college about 5 years and I have to calculate the area of a circle. Easy, Pi\*r\*\*2. Then doubt sets in as I realize it’s been a while since I actually used that formula. Or is it 2_Pi_r\*\*2? Or (Pi\*r\*\*2)/2? Textbooks usually have formulas printed inside the covers. Other books you have in the office? Not so much. Now, I know it has r\*\*2, since I need an answer in square units. But the rest? I had to resort to integration to determine the answer. I felt stupid for not knowing, yet smart for being able to derive it. ---
**Author:** ![Breccia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Breccia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breccia)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/38 "2012-01-12T08:45:13Z")
if you’ve been in university fresh bio, chem, physics you’ll get 9 of 10. the “newton” ish thing, well, got 2 degrees in engr here, so it’s predictable, otherwise, fu. seems off base. not looking for learning but memorization. that’s all ok too. just sayin. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/39 "2012-01-12T09:23:29Z")
32/50 OK many of them I had narrowed it down to two and guessed wrong but the right reply was my other choice. And some were WAGs that I lucked out on and got right. I know next to nothing about the table of elements but I got the ‘brimstone’ correct from watching Star Trek. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-science-quiz/609238/40 "2012-01-12T12:21:45Z")
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