50/50 in Science X Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

Fats, such as saturated fats and cholesterol, can raise blood pressure, causing blockages, therefore causing a heart attack.

Answer: False

All tropical cyclones in the northern hemisphere spin counter-clockwise, while all cyclones in the southern hemisphere spin clockwise, due to the Coriolis effect. This is a process in which the direction of the atmospheric currents is affected by Earth's rotation, veering to the left when flowing further north or south of the equator, and to the right when flowing towards the equator. You can now picture the resulting direction of cyclone rotation in both hemispheres.

Answer: False

Orange is the inverse color of blue in the RYB (red-yellow-blue) system, but in the RGB (red-green-blue) system, yellow is the inverse color of blue. For the other chief colors in the RGB system, the inverse of red is cyan (pale blue), while that of green is magenta (dark pink). All of these inverse colors together form yet another color system called CYMK (cyan-yellow-magenta-black) system, which is used in printing cartridges.

You can inverse the colors on your computer whenever you want! The trick is to bring up the windows magnifying glass (keyboard command is windows icon key and plus) then press ctrl+i.

Answer: True

Modulus is an arithmetic method in which a number starts over after reaching a certain number, as is the case for 12-hour clocks. When hour 12 ends, the new hour will be hour 1, not 13. In military time, the next hour after hour 23 is 0, not 24. It also applies to minutes and seconds as well - after 59 is 0, not 60.

Answer: True

Carbon disulfide is a clear, smelly, oily liquid. This liquid is used to form some organic compounds, and as a solvent in chemistry labs and factories. Carbon disulfide freezes at −112°C (−169°F) and boils at 46°C (115°F). CS2 is released in small amounts naturally by volcanoes and marshes. Like water, carbon disulfide is a good solvent.

Answer: False

People with untrained knowledge of planets other than Earth may think that Uranus and Neptune both have global oceans. Due to the pale color of Uranus, a person may think that the ocean is frozen in ice, while the dark blue color of Neptune is a global liquid ocean. But in fact, the blue color of both of these planets is caused by one of the gases in their atmospheres - methane. Even though methane comprises about 2% of Uranus' and Neptune's atmospheres, it is the major contributor to the colors of these planets. Most of their atmospheres comprise of hydrogen and helium.

Scientists found that there are technically oceans on Uranus and Neptune, but lying in their mantles. The oceans are made of water-ammonia mixture compressed under a huge pressure.

Answer: True

Weather means short-term atmospheric conditions, like hourly, daily, or weekly. Climate means weather averages over a period of few decades or more in a particular region. Climate is changing, due to global warming, since the Industrial Revolution in the mid-19th century.

Answer: False

Even though Katrina was one of the most devastating hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. coast, it was actually only a Category 3 storm when it made landfall, as it struck a heavily populated area of New Orleans. Up to approximately six hours before making landfall, Katrina was rated Category 5 and then downgraded to Category 3 just before making landfall.

Answer: False

The North Star, a star very close to the North Pole, is Polaris, which is a particularly bright star. Oppositely, there is no bright star near the South Pole, but there is a faint star nearby, dubbed Sigma Octantis. With the naked eye, Sigma Octantis can only be seen under a dark sky, that is, skies at least 40 miles away from any city where lights are very abundant.

However, due to precession, Polaris will not be the North Star forever. Around 3000 BC, Thuban was the North Star. There will be a bright South Star around 9200 AD - it will be Delta Velorum.

Answer: True

The cecum is a tube that connects the final part of the small intestine, the ileum, to the first part of the large intestine, the ascending colon. It is located near the lower left corner of the abdomen.

Answer: True

The kingdom is second from the top of the classification of life, below domain. Kingdoms include the scientific names Animalia (animals), Plantae (plants), Fungi, and Protista (protists).

Answer: True

Hot ice is possible to make, but only under immense pressure, at least in gigapascals. The famous phase of ice that can be hot is Ice VII, often referred as "hot ice." Ice VII is found naturally in the interiors of some ocean worlds.

Ice VII is one of 16 phases of ice. The most familiar phase of ice, found in ice cubes, snow, frosts, etc., is Ice I_h.

Answer: True

Cytosine and guanine are two of the four nucleotides that make up DNA. The other pair is adenine and thymine, which are also bonded together.

Answer: True

Since women produce less melanin than men, on average, women normally have slightly lighter skin than men. If you look at many women's and men's skins carefully, and compare their overall differences, then you can tell that women have lighter skin than men. However, before puberty, boys are lighter-skinned than girls, on average; again you can tell their differences.

Answer: False

Scientists discovered that flerovium behaves more like a noble gas than the element above it. This is due to relativistic effects associated with elements of very high atomic numbers. The relativistic effect is a phenomenon in which the relativistic speed of electrons in orbitals approaching the speed of light causes some elemental properties to vary from what is expected to be based on their locations on the periodic table.