Elemental Countries Trivia Quiz

Answer: Calcium

The name of the country Canada (ISO 3166 code: CA) is now generally accepted as coming from an indigenous term 'kanata', meaning 'village' or 'settlement'. Although often cited as being the second-largest country in the world, Canada comes fourth after China and USA if you exclude fresh water areas such as lakes. There must be a lot of water in Canada.

The name for the metal calcium (chemical symbol: Ca) comes from the Latin for lime.

Answer: Cadmium

The metal cadmium (symbol: Cd) takes its name from the Latin for calamine or zinc carbonate. Cadmium was first found as an impurity in calamine in the early 19th century.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a country code of CD, was called Zaire between 1971 and 1997. It can be found in central Africa and is the second-largest country in Africa, after Algeria. Its capital is Kinshasa.

Answer: Californium

Another country found in central Africa, the Central African Republic (country code: CF) gained independence from France in 1960. The capital is Bangui. Since independence it has suffered from a number of coups d'état and a series of conflicts including the Central African Republic Bush War and the Central African Republic Civil War, which started in 2012.

The radioactive element californium (symbol: Cf) was first synthesized in 1950 and has a number of specialist uses, principally as a neutron emitter. Not the kind of element you want to get a tan from.

Answer: Chlorine

Santiago is the capital and Spanish is the lingua franca for this long and narrow South American country - in fact some 4,300 km long and 350 km at its widest. CL is the country code.

Cl is the chemical symbol for chlorine, a highly-reactive greenish-coloured gas at standard temperatures and pressures. Salt (or sodium chloride) is its most common form.

Answer: Curium

Back to Africa for Cameroon (country code: CM). The country takes its name from the Portuguese word for shrimp which 15th century Portuguese explorers found in abundance in the Wouri River. German colonisation gave way to a country split in two between France and Britain following Germany's defeat in World War One. Of the British areas, the Southern Cameroons chose to merge with the French half in 1961 whilst the Northern Cameroons opted to join with Nigeria.

The radioactive element curium (symbol: Cm), first synthesized in 1944, was named after Marie and Pierre Curie, although not discovered by them. The two elements discovered by the husband and wife team were radium and polonium.

Answer: Copernicium

Most populous country in the world, CN is the People's Republic of China's country code. Copernicium (symbol: Cn), another highly-radioactive synthetic element, is named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. It should probably have had the symbol Cp however this had previously been assigned to cassiopeium, now called lutetium with the chemical symbol Lu, and re-use of the Cp symbol was not permitted.

Answer: Cobalt

Another Spanish-speaking country, Colombia (country code: CO) is in the north-west corner of South America and connects to the Central American isthmus. It thus has both Pacific and Caribbean coastlines.

The name of the metal cobalt (symbol: Co) comes from the German word kobold, a type of sprite. In German folklore the subterranean version of the sprite was typically malicious. When a cobalt-containing ore was found, it was often assumed to hold copper or nickel. Smelting instead produced a powder rather than the desired metal, as well as highly toxic fumes. The sprite got the blame. The powder was in fact cobalt II oxide and the toxic fumes came from the arsenic typically found with cobalt.

Answer: Chromium

Chromium (symbol: Cr), a key component in stainless steel, owes its name to the intensely-coloured compounds it produces as the word 'chromium' is derived from the Greek for 'colour'.

The Republic of Costa Rica (country code: CR) in Central America is relatively unusual for being one of the few countries without a standing army. Costa Rica abolished its military in 1949, following a brief civil war.

Answer: Caesium

A bit of a historic one, the country Serbia and Montenegro (country code CS) only existed between 1992 and 2006. In 2006 Montenegro voted to leave the state union and form its own country. Kosovo, a former part of Serbia, declared independence in 2008, however Serbia has disputed its independence.

Caesium (symbol: Cs), or cesium, takes its name from the Latin for 'blueish-grey'. It is used in atomic clocks has helped in providing modern definitions for the SI unit of a second and a metre.

Answer: Copper

Havana is the capital of Cuba (country code: CU). The name for the country is believed to come from the Taino people, although the meaning depends on the source word. Taino, or Caribbean Arawak, was spoken at the time of the Spanish conquest and numerous words found their way into Spanish and other European languages. Examples include cannibal, canoe, hammock, maize and manatee.

Copper (symbol: Cu) has had a long human history, being used for around 10,000 years. The name is derived from the Latin for the island of Cyprus, which was mined for copper during Roman times.