Detective Chemistry Trivia Quiz

Answer: Astatine

Put together by the scientist, Dmitri Mendeleev, the periodic table displays every known element on Earth. Here, an element is defined as a pure chemical substance which is made up by only one type of atom. Elements are made unique by the number of protons in the nuclei of their atoms.

Chemical compounds are substances made up of two or more elements.

Compounds can have completely different properties to the elements which make them up. For example, carbon (a solid) and hydrogen (a gas) can join to form heptane (a liquid).

Answer: You have 22

Atoms are made up of protons (positively charged particles), electrons (negatively charged particles), and neutrons (uncharged particles). For ease of understanding, we say that one proton has a charge of +1 and an electron has a charge of -1. Therefore, in an uncharged compound, the electron number would have to balance the proton number.

Electrons can be lost or gained by atoms/compounds, thus providing them with a charge. An example of this is in table salt. Chlorine (Cl2) reacts with 2 sodium atoms, each Cl atom in Cl2 gains one electron from a sodium atom. The result are negatively charged chloride ions and positively charged sodium ions which join together to form the ionic compound, sodium chloride (salt).

Answer: Tetrahedral

The groups/atoms attached to the central bonding atom of a compound act as "arms" and the way they are arranged is dependant on the type/number of electron pairs about the central bonding atom. There are two types of electron pairs - bonding pairs (a pair of electrons used up in a covalent bond) and lone pairs (a pair of electrons which are not used up in a covalent bond).

Lone pairs repel lone pairs more than lone pairs repel bonding pairs. And lone pairs repel bonding pairs more than bonding pairs repel bonding pairs. This is the electron repulsion theory which explains why chemical compounds are shaped the way they are.

Answer: Waste

The desired product of respiration is energy, which is stored as ATP and later used when appropriate.

Waste products are often poisonous in large amounts and so must be disposed of. An example is urea, which is produced by the deamination of amino acids in the liver. The urea then moves out of the blood when passing through the kidneys and is removed from the body in urine.

Answer: Methanoic acid

In this instance, "weak acid" is used in comparison to acids such as sulphuric or hydrochloric, which are described as strong acids. Furthermore, sulphuric acid is made stronger by the fact that it is diprotic, meaning that two protons are released when a molecule of sulphuric acid dissociates.

Acids react with bases to form water and salt.

Answer: Standard

IUPAC stands for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. It is one of the main bodies of scientific terminology, alongside the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST, unlike IUPAC, defines standard temperature as 25 degrees Celsius. However, terms such as these are still far from universally accepted.

Answer: Ammonia

Ninhydrin can also be used to detect amines and so are useful in fingerprint detection. A positive test will give a deep purple-blue colour.

Whilst ninhydrin may be fairly unknown to many, the test with limewater is more familiar, as you may have used this in school. Other common school lab chemical tests include the use of bromine water to detect a carbon to carbon double bond, and the use of a lighted splint to detect the presence of hydrogen gas.

Answer: Malachite

The industrial process mentioned in the question is the heating of iron ore in a kiln. Firstly, the hematite enters the hot kiln along with coke (carbon) and limestone. The chemical compound which you represent is produced when the coke reacts with oxygen, but you are only an intermediate product, as more coke reduces you to the main reducing product. The main reducing product now reacts with the iron ore to produce iron. Limestone then reduces the acidic impurities in the kiln.

Hematite has the formula, Fe2O3. Goethite is FeO(OH). Siderite is FeCO3. Limonite is hydrated goethite. Malachite is copper ore.

Answer: More

Yes, even argon, a relatively unknown element, contributes more to Earth's atmosphere than you - one of the most well known chemical substances in the world.

Another statistic which surprises many is that 78% of the Earth's atmosphere is made up of nitrogen, making it the greatest gaseous contributor.

The most abundant element in the solar system is hydrogen, and oxygen is the most abundant element in the ocean as well as in the human body.

Answer: Carbon dioxide

Intro and Q1 - You're not an element.

Q2 - You have 22 protons. There are two atoms of oxygen, each with 8 protons, and a carbon atom with 6 protons.

Q3 - You have a linear shape. About the central atom (carbon atom) there are two bonding pairs of electrons (two double bonds linking the carbon atom to two oxygen atoms), and no lone pairs. The shape, therefore, is linear.

Q4 - You are produced during cellular respiration as a waste product. This gives you a choice of two - water and carbon dioxide.

Q5 - You form an acidic solution when in water. Carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid when in water.

Q6 - You are a gas at room temperature. This is because only weak intermolecular forces act between carbon dioxide molecules, the energy of which is easily overcome by the energy provided by room temperature.

Q7 - If bubbled through limewater, you turn it milky. This is a classic school lab test for CO2.

Q8 - You are an intermediate product of an industrial reaction involving the removal of iron from its ore. Coke initially reacts with oxygen to form CO2.

Q9 - You only make up 0.038% of the Earth's atmosphere.