Spelling It Out With Science! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Barometer

All of these are sensors, sure enough, but the barometer is typically used to measure environmental air pressure and give us important insight into weather tracking and the movement of weather fronts. If barometric pressure sharply dips, for instance, it's usually indicative of a coming storm. The word 'barometer' literally breaks down to the Greek words for 'weight' and 'measure'.
As for the rest, an altimeter is used to measure altitude, a Geiger counter is for radiation, and a thermometer is for temperature.

Answer: Endoplasmic reticulum

Both the ribosomes and the endoplasmic reticulum combine to aid in protein synthesis in a eukaryotic cell, and if you were to look deep enough you would see that a normal cell contains both a rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum. Only the rough features the ribosomes (hence the name), but the smooth doesn't sit idly by.

Instead, smooth endoplasmic reticulum synthesizes lipids and phospholipids.

Answer: Riboflavin

B vitamins are the series of vitamins needed for cell metabolism, and those included with that family (like riboflavin, thiamine, and niacin) are important for ensuring healthy body function. Riboflavin was isolated for use in the 1930s and can be found in a number of processed foods the world over, particularly because it aids in development and health; deficiency would result in poor health throughout the body (including the digestive system and skin).

Answer: Yellow

Remember your ROY G BIV? Yellow comes third on the rainbow, appearing third from the outside due to its wavelength, coming after red and orange (at 625-740 nanometers and 590-620 nanometers, respectively). It's a bold colour that counts as one of the world's known primary colours (along with blue and red) and is known for having certain effects on people that are interesting in behaviour theory as well. Yellow is a colour often attributed to happiness across cultures worldwide.

Answer: Luminol

Luminol is a compound which glows blue when it comes into contact with iron-rich substances under a UV light, so when someone evenly distributes the chemical over an area (ie. a crime scene) they can document patterns or traces of blood spatter to be analyzed after the fact. You might be familiar with the name luminol as it's used constantly on "CSI".

Phenobarbital is an epilepsy medication, Paracetamol (or acetaminophen) is a pain reliever, and Barbasol is an American shaving cream brand.

Answer: Lilac

Part of the Oleaceae (or olive) family, Syringa grows in temperate regions of the world, so while it was originally a Eurasian plant, it grows in gardens and wilderness all over the place. Known for its fragrance, lilac is a plant that (amongst others) represents love and beauty, partly because it tends to blossom in the spring.

Despite it having strong roots in the Mediterranean, a cultivar of the plant is also the New Hampshire state flower.

Answer: Incisors

Incisors are front teeth, so when you're looking at the human mouth, you would have four on top and four on the bottom. Radiating out, the jaw features the canine next, then premolars and molars. In a cow, things are a bit different. All six of a cow's incisors are on the bottom, then a canine on each side, and then the rest are molars. Humans normally have the same amount of teeth as a cow-- thirty-two-- but they're used for different purposes.

While cows normally sustain themselves on plants, human teeth (and most mammalian teeth sets) are designed for meat as well, and incisors are meant as cutting teeth.

Answer: Unit

A CPU, or a central processing unit, is found on your computer's motherboard and it's responsible for interpreting and executing instructions that allow your computer and its contents to operate; without it you'd have nothing but a brick. It works in tandem with other items on the motherboard including the memory (RAM and ROM) and any cards and ports that allow you to utilize peripherals.

Answer: Mars

Fun bit of space history here. Mariner 4 is obviously the fourth in its line of exploratory vessels; Mariner 2 went to Venus (successfully) while 1 and 3 failed to launch. Mariner 4, however, was the first to take pictures of Mars, giving us great insight into one of our closest neighbours.

The craft was lost in heliocentric orbit after sustaining damages from space rocks (go figure). Mariners 6, 7, and 9 also went to Mars with 9 becoming a permanent satellite though it shut down in 1972 after sending more than seven thousand images home.

Answer: BERYLLIUM

Appearing as the fourth element on the Periodic Table of Elements, Beryllium is an interesting one since it has very few electrons and appears so high on the list, but is still relatively rare in the universe. Beryllium is most common in minerals because of its high reactivity.

In its gaseous form, it's actually very harmful to humans and could lead to lung disease. We typically use beryllium in aerospace technology and manufacturing, x-ray tech (specifically radiation barriers), and in semiconductors.