# General knowledge questions wanted!



## iLabmAn (Jan 1, 2003)

I want to give an informative and fun general knowledge question to my students (age 13-15). What are some good questions that "...everyone should know" the answers?

List them here!


----------



## IronMac (Sep 22, 2003)

What's your name?


----------



## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

Who's Canada's PM?
What does it mean to "take the fifth?" (trick question for Canadians)
What is Pi? (bonus - How is it used to calculate the area and circumferance of a circle?) (double bonus - how to calculate volume of a sphere)
Name Canada's provinces and territories
When was the country of Canada created? (year only)
Name the contients and oceans of the world
What is the speed of light? (metric, imperial for bonus points)
Name one book written by Pierre Burton.
Why does Canada have a Governor General?
What was the "Avro Arrow?"
Name the Great Lakes. (bonus - which one belongs entirely to the US?)
Who was "The Great One?" (bonus - who was his childhood hero?)
What is the Grey Cup? (bonus - how many downs in Cdn. football?)
Name the 3 largest countries in the world, in terms of land mass.
What is the "Jet Stream?"


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Cute ;D

How about........ *East Indian, West Indian...........what different areas do they come from?*

What was the last province to join Canada and when??

Why was Ottawa chosen as capital.

What were Quebc and Ontario known as originally.

Where was basketball invented.

When will Hockey return.


----------



## SkyHook (Jan 23, 2001)

.


----------



## Chealion (Jan 16, 2001)

Here are a few I thought of off the top of my head that your kids might enjoy:

Who was the voice of Bugs Bunny? (Mel Blanc who coincidentally despised, but was not allergic to carrots)
When did Canada get it's current Maple Leaf flag? (Feb. 15th, 1965)
What are Canada's National Sports (Officially: Lacrosse. Although Curling and Hockey are often declared as national sports also)
If you were told dihydrogen monoxide was cancerous would you stop drinking it?


----------



## miguelsanchez (Feb 1, 2005)

what was the last province to join the canadian federation?
what is "the last spike"?
what was "muddy york"?
who used the term "fuddle-duddle" and why?
what is a "corduroy road"?
who ran the underground railroad?
where are the weapons of mass destruction? (trick question)


----------



## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

> where are the weapons of mass destruction? (trick question)


omaha, nebraska


----------



## bryanc (Jan 16, 2004)

Define/describe the 'scientific method'.
What is the difference between a virus and a bacterium?
What is the difference between a virus and a trojan horse?
What is Evolutionary Theory?
If something has a pH of 7.0 is it an acid, or a base, or neither?
Who were Watson and Crick, and what important discovery did they make?
What is the nearest star? What is the next nearest?
What moon of Saturn did a probe recently land on?
What is the temperature of boiling water (at sea level)? If it were being boiled on a mountain top, would it be hotter, colder, or the same temperature?
Why do things float or sink?
Describe how energy from the sun is converted into the motion of an SUV on the road.
What energy source does not derive from the sun?
How old is the earth?

that's all I can think of for now....fun thread.


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Remind me NOT to send my 13 year old your way. Watson and Crick!!!


----------



## mac-man6 (Oct 30, 2002)

Where do babies come from?  

I love putting this in university feedback questionnaires.


----------



## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

General:

A Herd of Cattle could contain what? (Cows, Calves, Steers, Bulls).
Do steaks come from cows? (No, they come from Steers).

On Canada's coat of arms, the words " A Mare usque ad Mari" appears.
What language is that? (Latin)
What does it mean in English? (From sea to sea).
Where does it come from? (The Bible, Psalm 72, Verse 8: "He shall have dominion from sea to sea".)
On the CBC radio show, "As it Happens", they sometimes say "From sea to sea to sea". Why do you think they say that? (There are 3 oceans that border Canada; Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic).

Geography

What is the most number of Provinces and Territories you could be in while standing at one spot? (4; where Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavit and the Northwest Territories intersect).

If you were standing in Saint John's Newfoundland, which city is farthest from you:
Vancouver BC
London, England
Paris, France
(Vancouver; it is 5046 km away while London it is 3774 km and Paris is 4024 Km away).

If you were standing in Ottawa, Ontario, which city is closer to you:
Washington DC USA
Dryden Ontario
(Washington; it is 732 Km and Dryden is 1374 Km away.)

If you suddenly found yourself away from any city or town somewhere in another country, and it looked just like Canada with the same kind of animals, fish, plants, trees, lakes and geography, which country would it most likely be? (Russia).

List or discuss the similar animals, fish, plants, trees, geography, weather, etc. you might see in both Canada and Russia.

Why not the USA? (Compare unique animals, geography, natural features you might see in the US that you would not find in Canada or Russia).

What is the largest lake that sits completely in Canada? (Great Bear Lake, NWT, 31,328 Km2).

Wollaston Lake, Saskatchewan is unique? Why? (It's the largest lake in the world, 2681 Km2, that drains naturally in two directions; North to the Arctic Ocean via the Mackenzie River Basin and East into Hudson's Bay).

What is so special about Middle Island, Ontario? (It is the southernmost part of Canada).

How many US states have territory north of Middle Island?
1
6
11
21
27
49
(A: 27. Alaska, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.)

Which is bigger in area?
Quebec, Canada
North West Territories, Canada

(A: Quebec, at 1.542,056 Km2 while NWT is 1.346,106 Km2.)


----------



## RC51Pilot (Mar 26, 2004)

Actually, according to bill C-212, signed on February 8, 1994, and later ammended on May 12, 1994, lacrosse is identified with being our national summer sport and hockey as our national winter sport. It was originally written that hockey alone would be our only national sport, however support and outcry from the lacrosse enthusiasts forced the ammendment to split them.

FWIW.


----------



## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

Gordguide, those are some great Canada-centric questions.


----------



## sketch (Sep 10, 2004)

In which direction does the toilet flush in Australia?


----------



## We'reGonnaWin (Oct 8, 2004)

sketch said:


> In which direction does the toilet flush in Australia?


That's a myth. The Coriolis Effect has little to do with toilet flush swirls.


----------



## miguelsanchez (Feb 1, 2005)

well i know that when you're near the equator, it goes pretty much straight down, no swirling. at least that's what i observed when i was in malaysia last year (5 degrees north of the equator).


----------



## PosterBoy (Jan 22, 2002)

Here are a bunch. Some of them I admit may be a little advanced for 15 year olds, but I've always been about the useless/semi-useful trivia.

Who was Canada's longest serving Prime Minister? (W.L. Mackenzie King)
How long was he prime minister, total? (21 years, 5 months, 1 day)

Who was Canada's shortest serving PM? (Charles Tupper)
How long was he prime minister, total? (2 months, 7 days)

How many seats are there in the House of Commons as of right now? (308)
How many seats in the senate? (96)
How are the seats in the senate broken down? (by region, 24 per)

What is Canada's highest civilian honour? (Order of Canada)
Who appoints people to it? (Governor General, based on recommendations from an advisory council)
How many levels of it are there? (3: member, officer and companion)
How many can be appointed each year? (136 members, 64 officers, 15 companions)
Is there a limit to how many can be appointed? (there may only be 165 companions at any given time, no limit on officers or members)

Canada is the second largest country in the world.
How big is canada in square KM? (9,984,670)
What country is bigger? (Russia, ~17,000,000 KM^2)
What what is the next largest country after Canada? (USA, ~9,630,000 KM^2 counting all 50 states and DC)

Who painted, among other things, the campbells soup can and coke bottles? (Warhol)
Who painted, among other things, "The Potato Eaters" and "Cafe Terrace at Night" (Van Gogh)
Who painted, among other things, "The Persistence of Memory" and "Reflections of Elephants"? (Dali)
Who painted, among other things, "The Last Supper" and drew "Vitruvian Man"? (Da Vinci)
Who painted, among other things, "Hylas and the Nymphs"? (Waterhouse)

What is the lowest point on Earth not covered by water? (The shoreline of the Dead Sea, ~400 M below sea level)

What is the official longest word in the English language? (floccinaucinihilipilification, 29 letters, FLOK-sih-noh-see-NEE-hee-lee-PEE-lih-fih-KAY-shun)
What is it's definition? (the act of estimating as worthless)
What is the popular longest word in the English Language? (Antidisestablishmentarianism, 28 letters)

Who were the first Europeans to visit North America? (The Norse)
Who was the leader of their expedition? (Leif Erikson)
Who was his father? (Erik the Red)
What was his nickname? (Leif The Lucky)

What is the oldest and largest stone structures in Africa south of the Sahara? (The ruins of Great Zimbabwe)

What are the Seven Cardinal/Deadly sins? (Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Avarice, Gluttony, Lust)
What are the Seven Cardinal Virtues? (Humility, Meekness, Charity, Chastity, Moderation, Zeal, Generosity)


I'll try to think of more later.


----------



## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

PB, I often wonder how the seven cardinal virtues tie in with ministers/priests praying for football teams and armies. One of the great oxymorons of our time (right after GWB). "Go forth with humility, meekness, charity and generosity and kick the livin' crap outta those other guys!!"


----------



## RobTheGob (Feb 10, 2003)

sketch said:


> In which direction does the toilet flush in Australia?


Down. (At least I *hope* it's down)


----------



## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

The following have one thing in common. What do you think it is:
The electric light bulb.
The pressure suit worn by astronauts and jet pilots.
The chocolate candy bar.
The heart pacemaker.
The JAVA programming language.
The paint roller.
Television.
Television camera.
The zipper.

A: They were all invented and patented by Canadians.

Discuss the light bulb. (Invented and patented by Henry Woodward in 1874; the patent was sold to Thomas Edison, who is widely believed to have been the inventor. Find examples from textbooks, the internet, or other sources of facts that credit the invention to Edison. Discuss how to research a topic, why it's good to look in a variety of sources, why you should consider who the source is or where a source is from when researching, and why it is important to take the effort to verify information.

Find out who invented the other items on the list, and compare different but conflicting information as to who did invent it.

For the teacher: your keywords:
The electric light bulb. (see above)
The suit worn by astronauts and jet pilots. (Wilbur Rounding Franks, 1941).
The chocolate candy bar; candy bars. (Arthur Ganong made the first nickel bar in 1910).
The heart pacemaker. (Dr. John A. Hopps, 1950).
The JAVA programming language. (James Gosling, 1994).
The paint roller. (Norman Breakey, 1940).
Television. (Reginald A. Fessenden patented a television system in 1927).
Television camera. (F. C. P. Henroteau, 1934).
The zipper. (Gideon Sundback, 1913).

Discuss US-based media, how much information we get from them, and why it's important to seek Canadian or International sources for information.


----------



## Gerbill (Jul 1, 2003)

Here are a few slightly tough ones:

Who was told to "Beware the Ides of March?" Bonus - what, exactly, is meant by "The Ides of March?" Extra bonus - the warning was valid - what happened? Extra extra bonus - who wrote a play about it?

Sir Isaac Newton is most famous for explaining what natural phenomenon? Bonus: He is also famous for inventing what mathematical technique?

Why are CRT computer monitors and TV sets considered hazardous waste?

When did the Boer War happen (roughly - early or late in which century?) Where was it fought? Why was Canada involved? Who were our allies? Who were we fighting? Who won? 

What nationality was Karl Marx? Where did he live while producing his best know work, "Capital?" 

What is the national capital of Australia? 

If you're looking at a map, describe roughly where Puerto Rico is located. Bonus - name three nearby countries.

Extra points - explain my sigfile.


----------



## iLabmAn (Jan 1, 2003)

WOW!!!! These are awesome!

Keep them coming.


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Is the earth nearer to the sun in winter or summer??

Trick question BTW - anyone care to explain why.


----------



## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

The Earth has an elliptical orbit around the sun. The Earth is at its closest point distance wise to the Sun in January (called the Perihelion) and the furthest in July (the Aphelion).

The distance though is not significant in terms of interstellar distances.


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Nice explanation Sinc but you did not answer the question or explain why it's a "trick" question.


----------



## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

Tilting of the axis.


----------



## bryanc (Jan 16, 2004)

*Harvard grads*

I saw an item on TV where two dozen Harvard grads were interviewed and asked several 'basic science' questions, like "why do we have seasons" and almost every one of them thought that it had to do with being closer to the sun in the summer than in the winter. The one who knew it had to do with the rotational axis of the earth being tilted with respect to the plane of our orbit around the sun was clearly very vague on the concept and couldn't explain it.

So, while my 4-year-old is getting pretty good at explaining this phenomenon (and therefore the teenage students in question should have no trouble with it), it's worth noting that many of the 'best educated' adults in the world don't have a clue about these sorts of things.

It's no wonder that people like Bush can get elected.

Cheers


----------



## Willy Z (Oct 25, 2004)

What is the closest country to Canada, after the US ? (France / St Pierre et Miquelon)
What's common between A4, A3, A2, A1....paper size ? (they all have the same ratio = L/l)
Why is NY named the big apple ?
What do we call the Continental Divide ? (the place where rivers go either west or east : located in the rockies)...


....to be continued


----------



## khummsein (Sep 12, 2003)

gerbill: i love that sig. classic 

my favourite puzzle of all-time: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem">The Monty Hall Problem</a>

"Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?"

many heated debates have arisen over this one, but it's reasonably easy to explain the right answer...


----------



## Eukaryotic (Jan 24, 2005)

Here's a basic one:
How does a plant grow?

BTW,

Direction of toilet water has nothing to do with which hemisphere you're in as WGW pointed out. The physical forces in your toilet (e.g., ripples from a wad of TP you just threw in) are magnitudes stronger than the Coriolis effect (caused by curvature of the earth). 

It's one of those old urban legend thingies. 

To quote MacNutt...trust me on this


----------



## khummsein (Sep 12, 2003)

PS., i remember a game i used to play in school when i was around that age...

split class into two teams, and we've got a game of "baseball." go down the line for one "team," asking different questions (for my case, it was in english class and we were doing "literary allusions" so he'd ask, "Pegasus" (answer), then next: "Garden of Eden" (answer), etc...)

based on how good the answer given is, assign "single, double, triple" or "home run"...wrong answer, you're out.

three outs, switch to the next team. i think we used to play enough innings to give everyone a chance to answer. kind of fun, and it helped me understand a LOT more of what was going on when reading books 

works especially well when they're "short answer" type questions...


----------



## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

*grade 5 math*

let x= y
x*x = x*y
x*x - y*y = x*y - y*y
(x+y)(x-y) = y(x-y)
x+y = y
but x=y
y+y = y
2y=y
2=1

ta dah !!


----------



## khummsein (Sep 12, 2003)

^^^ for extra credit explain why this is wrong


----------



## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

If x=y then y+y=2y or 2x (not y as written above).

Or should I go back to math class. It's been so long.


----------



## Gerbill (Jul 1, 2003)

Here's a multi-part one for the Computer Science students:

On the bottom of the SCSI hard drive of your old Mac you have three sets of pins in a row. You have three jumpers that can connect pairs of these pins. The pairs of pins are labelled 2,1,0 

What are these pins for? (answer - setting the SCSI address)

What are the 8 possible addresses? (answer - 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7)

What are the jumper settings corresponding to the 8 possible SCSI addresses? (if you know binary numbers, you can figure this out without a cheat sheet.)

Of those 8 address settings, there are two that you would probably never use on a Mac hard drive. Which ones? Why? (answer - 7, which is always reserved for the Mac motherboard, and 3, which is normally reserved for the optical drive.)

By default, which address setting would you use for the internal hard drive? (answer - 0)

Extra Master Bonus Points: Someone gave you an Ultra SCSI drive to install in your G4 tower. How many pin pairs? (answer - 4) How many possible addresses? (answer - 16) What are the possible addresses? (answer - 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15) Where do you plug it into the G4's motherboard? (answer - you can't - you need to install a PCI adapter card.) What is the default SCSI address of the PCI adapter card? (answer 7)


----------



## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

FYI, Gordguide, re your question "If you were standing in Saint John's Newfoundland, which city is farthest from you?", sorry to tell you that there is no Saint John's in NL. However, we do have a St. John's here in NL. Why is St. John's named St. John's???


----------



## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Aha, the good Dr. strikes again!


----------



## talonracer (Dec 30, 2003)

ARGH!

MY MELON!!

I just spent the day thinking, and now I read through all of this thread! Massive!


----------



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Carex, Sinc - I almost lost a friend over the summer/winter closest to the sun question.........we argued for a week........turns out we were BOTH right in our respective but opposite claims.

He was from Bolivia. Get it now. 

A nasty trick question for a students - they REALLLLLY Have to think outside the..........?


----------



## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

khummsein said:


> ^^^ for extra credit explain why this is wrong



math students should exclude themselves from the competition or anyone that has "seen" this proof before


----------



## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

Carex said:


> If x=y then y+y=2y or 2x (not y as written above).
> 
> Or should I go back to math class. It's been so long.



not close and therefore no cigar....

but just to follow your logic and to have some fun....
x + y = y
but x = y
x + x = x
2x = x
2 =1 

ta dah, again.....


----------



## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

I know this one:

The error occurs on these lines here:



> (x+y)(x-y) = y(x-y)
> x+y = y


x=y, so the term (x-y)=0. 

When you eliminate the (x-y) term from both sides of the equation, you are dividing both sides by (x-y). 

This is division by zero, which is mathematically undefined, resulting in the inconsistency: 2=1.


----------



## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

MacDoc said:


> Carex, Sinc - I almost lost a friend over the summer/winter closest to the sun question.........we argued for a week........turns out we were BOTH right in our respective but opposite claims.
> 
> He was from Bolivia. Get it now.
> 
> A nasty trick question for a students - they REALLLLLY Have to think outside the..........?


Ah, now I see. Very good MacDoc. 

I just want to add that I am very impressed with the quality of the suggestions made here for questions. We have a very well informed little community here, non?


----------



## bryanc (Jan 16, 2004)

*This is one that I actually remember thinking was neat when I was a kid*

Starting from some point on the earth, a man walks 1 km South, turns right, walks 1 km West, turns right, walks one 1 km North, and winds up exactly where he started. What colour is the bear that eats him?

(answer: 'white' because these directions only work if the man started from the North pole, so any bear in the vicinity is going to be a polar bear, which is white).

Cheers


----------



## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

bryanc, I heard that joke as a kid told this way:

You are standing in a room with an all southern exposure and a bear walks by. What colour is the bear? 
A = White.


----------



## MaxPower (Jan 30, 2003)

Q: Where was the board game Trivial Pursuit invented?

A: Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario


----------



## GreenBastard (Mar 1, 2005)

How long would an average person have to work to pay all of his taxes for one year in Canada.... 

Don't quote me on this but I have heard from january til july or august


----------



## Carex (Mar 1, 2004)

Sidebar for you MaxPower. I remember playing a lot of trivial pursuit when it first came out in what, the late 80's. About that time, I was in Europe doing some skiing and a bunch of Brits asked us to play a round with them. Me and my pal thought to ourselves "Heh, heh, heh, we are going to kick some ass here." Not realizing that there were regionalized versions of the game. Needless to say, we didn't win. Who knew?


----------



## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

GreenBastard said:


> How long would an average person have to work to pay all of his taxes for one year in Canada....
> 
> Don't quote me on this but I have heard from january til july or august


According to the Fraser Institute it was June 18 in 2004.


----------



## khummsein (Sep 12, 2003)

another fun one:

Three guys walk into a hotel & ask for a room. The clerk says, "$30", so they each pay $10 and walk up to their room.

The manager is just returning for lunch, and sees the charge. He says to the clerk, "We have a special this week, rooms are only $25. Take five bucks and bring it up to their room."

As he's going up to the room, the clerk is wondering how to split $5 between 3 people. Having had a long & frustrating day, he decides to refund each visitor $1, and pocket the extra $2.

So, each visitor has paid $10, and gotten $1 back, so they paid $9.
The clerk pocketed $2.

9+9+9+2=29

Where did the extra dollar go?!


----------



## We'reGonnaWin (Oct 8, 2004)

They paid $25 for the room. Received $3 from the bell-hop. Had $2 stolen by the bell-hop = $30.

All word games.


----------

