Chile, Chili or Chilly Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cote de Pablo

Cote de Pablo was born in Santiago, Chile and moved to America when she was ten years old. Arguably her most famous role has been that of television's Ziva David, a member of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) team assigned to look into military crimes.

Answer: Andean Condor

Not only is it the national bird of Chile but Colombia, Peru, Agentina, Bolivia and Ecuador consider it significant enough to warrant status as a national symbol.

It has a massive wingspan of 3.2m (10.5ft) and generally lives to the age of 70. Numbers are in decline and one reason that doesn't help that fact, apart from human interference, is that only two eggs are laid every two years and the chicks are completely dependent on the parents for the first six months of life.

Answer: Capsaicin

Capsaicin's hot little concoction has a structure combining Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen known as 8-Methyl-N-vanillyl-trans-6-nonenamide. Its molecular formula isn't much easier to remember either. It's C18H27NO3.

Answer: The perceived temperature of how cold something feels as compared to the actual temperature

Although there have been various formulae used in the past the formula issued by the US Office of Climate Water and Weather uses the following to calculate the wind chill factor.

T(wc) = 35.74 + 0.6215T - 35.75(V0.16) + 0.4275T(V0.16)

where T(wc) is the Wind Chill in degrees Farenheit, V is the Wind Speed in miles per hour, and T is the temperature in degrees Farenheit.

The speed of the wind is the determinant factor when calculating wind chill. An example from the Australian Antarctic Territory Division cites that it is possible to wear shirt sleeves in very cold calm conditions (-40 C) however if there is a strong wind at a considerably warmer temperature then you will probably need to rug up quite substantially.

Answer: the heat of the chilli

Named after Wilbur Scoville in 1912, the Scoville Scale measures the relative heat of a particular chili against pure capsaicin with capsaicin being the highest at 16,000,000 SHU. This is done by diluting pure capsaicin with sugar water/syrup until the base is zero, that is, no discernible heat such as a bell pepper or capsicum.

As the type of chili gets hotter the Scoville Scale increases. For example a jalapeno measures 2.5-5K Scoville Heat Units and a habanero chilli measures between 1K and 350K SHU.

The American police force pepper spray clocks in at 2.5-5.3M SHU.

Answer: Atacama Desert

It is well documented that this 15 million year old desert is located between the Andes and the Chilean coast whereby the prevailing winds cause an effect where there is no precipitation. According to The New York Times Almanac (2007) by John W Wright (ed.) there are in fact some parts of the desert that have received no rain since recording began (approximately 400 years).
Other interesting facts to note:
- The river beds have been dry for 120,000 years.
- During the 20th century it had the world's largest supply of sodium nitrate.
- The soil of the Atacama is very similar to that of Mars and is also rich in perchlorates (ClO4), an inorganic compound found in solid salts of ammonium, potassium, and sodium.
- The earliest recorded mummies have been discovered in the Atacama desert dated approx 7-8000 years ago. (see Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

Another very dry desert is located in the Antarctic but has the classification of being a polar desert.

Answer: All of these

Dr Paul Bosland of the Chile Pepper Institute (attached to New Mexico State University) discovered that the caratenoids in paprika (Capsicum annuum) enhanced the colour of flamingo plumage especially those in captivity. The same also applied to the colour of koi fish housed in aquariums.
Bosland, P.W. 1996. Capsicums: Innovative uses of an ancient crop. p. 479-487.

In October 1997, a patent was granted to Frank T. Etscorn and Lorenzo Torres (New Mexico Tech Research Foundation). It was a process whereby the properties of habenero chillies were mixed with other agents and the resultant filtered liquid could be used for spraying/painting/sealant to repel rodents.
http://www.google.com.au/patents/US5674496

Many law enforcement agencies use pepper spray to subdue offenders. This can be administered by canister and may cause tears, pain and temporary blindness. Breathing difficulties can also occur.

Answer: India

According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, India trumps China, its nearest rival, by roughly 80%. Although volumes over the years will change, the ratio is unlikely to significantly change over the coming years as previous years have also provided very similar percentages.
Statistics from FAOSTAT (United Nations)
http://faostat.fao.org/site/567/default.aspx#ancor

Answer: Sanhattan

Sanhattan is the informal nickname given to the Santiago business district and is seen as the Chilean version of Manhattan, NYC. The origin of the name came from an article in the 'Journal Friday Daily Nation' newspaper published by editor Luis Alberto Ganderats on 2 June 1995.

As the financial district it houses businesses such as Banco de Chile, Deloittes, Ernst and Young and the World Trade Centre Santiago. There are many expensive offices, restaurants, hotels and banks.

It is located to the northeast of the capital, in the western end of the Las Condes commune between the Mapocho River and the Américo Vespucio Avenue.

Answer: Chilly bin

The chilly bin is a thermal container that uses ice to keep food and drink cold. Otherwise known as a cooler in the US it was first invented by Richard C. Laramy of Joliet, Illinois in 1951. In Australia the same product goes by the name 'esky' which refers to all cooler boxes, however Esky was once a brand name in its own right and the item became so popular that any product that served the same function was given this as a generic name irrespective of the brand.

It is similar to Kleenex or Biro, a brand name that has become synonymous with the product rather than the individual item produced by that company.