The Dark Side of Calcium Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hard water

High concentrations of both calcium and magnesium ions dissolved in water is more commonly known as 'hard water'. At home, this will leave white residue on your taps, kettles, shower heads, and any other devices that use water, such as, more often than not, heating elements. As a quick test to see how hard your water is, pour some soap into tap water in a bowl. The easier it is to make suds, the softer your water is.

In Canada, Regina, Saskatchewan has one of the hardest tap waters, whereas Vancouver, British Columbia has one of the softest.

As far as health concerns and hard water go, there haven't been any conclusive papers published that link hard water to any diseases and conditions. So, the only real trouble with hard water is cleaning the white crud out of the pipes or off of surfaces. Usually, vinegar is an easy way to clean it off.

Answer: Vitamin D

Vitamin D is needed by the body in order to absorb the calcium we ingest as a part of our diet and into our bodies for further use. So, getting out into the sun is a really great way to ensure that your bones and teeth are getting all of the calcium they deserve from your diet. On the other hand, oxalic acid has the opposite effect, and foods rich in this compound will actually impede calcium absorption. Foods with large amounts of oxalic acid include carambola, rhubarb, and spinach (negating all of the rich calcium usually found there).

Vitamin D3 is also called cholecalciferol (or calciol for short) and is essential for the absorption of calcium in our intestines. Vitamin D3 is formed when a form of cholesterol reacts to specific wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation. So, while tanning in the sun, our bodies produce vitamin D3 essential for calcium absorption.

Most of the calcium in our bodies is found in our bones and cartilage; most of the remainder is found in our teeth. Calcium is also essential in transmitting neural signals and in muscle contraction, among other bodily functions.

Answer: True

Weighing in at only 1550 kilograms per cubic metre, calcium is one of the lightest metals, and certainly the lightest alkali metal. Despite having lower atomic numbers, both beryllium and magnesium are more dense than pure calcium. Nevertheless, finding pure calcium occurring naturally is not as easy as you might think. Calcium is very reactive, and usually is found as a compound with other elements.

Answer: Red

Calcium burns with a colour described by some websites as "brick red". The flame test is done by inserting a metal into a hot flame and seeing the resultant colour spectrum given by the metal. The composition of the metal can be determined by the colour, however, the quantities of the different metals in an alloy cannot really be determined by this. Additionally, some elements give off intense light and can overpower the other metals being burned; sodium is a good example of a metal whose yellow flame tends to be stronger than those of other metals being burned.

Limelight, while calcium-based, is the burning of quicklime, which is actually calcium oxide.

Answer: Absorption lines

Calcium absorption lines are very distinct and are known to scientists as the H and K absorption lines. One excitation of calcium (singly ionized - meaning, with only one electron missing) creates an absorption line, the H-line, at 396.9 nm and a second excitation of calcium gives us the K-line at 393.4 nm.

These are both in the violet range of the visible spectrum, but are very tell-tale about the presence of the calcium in the star.

Answer: Sir Humphry Davy

Sir Humphry Davy might have been a poet had he not had such a great love for chemistry, but due to his experiments in electrolysis, he discovered many elements including calcium. After already having discovered potassium and sodium (and later, figuring out that these were two separate elements), Davy ran a current through a mixture of lime and mercuric oxide.

The son of a wood carver and the apprentice to a surgeon, Davy was knighted by George IV, then the Prince Regent, in 1812.

Answer: False

Calcium is actually one of those baffling materials that are diamagnetic. What this means is that, when placed in a magnetic field, calcium will actually create an opposite magnetic field and be repelled by the first magnet. This is very strange, but also very cool, as you could potentially levitate a bead of calcium over a magnet because of the field it creates. On its own (without an 'offending' magnetic field to excite it), calcium is not magnetic at all.

Answer: hundreds of millennia

Calcium-41 has a half-life of 103,000 years and it decays into potassium-41. This is the least-stable naturally occurring isotope making calcium one of the most stable elements. In reactors and particle accelerators there have been less-stable isotopes of calcium identified, like calcium-47 which has a half-life of 4.5 days, but, this isotope is not found in nature.

Calcium's most common isotope is calcium-40, meaning it has twenty protons and twenty neutrons in its nucleus. Of course, scientists have studied this isotope and found it to have a half-life of around 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years (that's 6 zetta-years, if you want to cut it down to size), so, my advice is to start planning now for when half of our calcium will be gone. Of course, the sun won't even be around anymore in that amount of time...

Answer: quinoa

Quinoa is a great source for dietary calcium, the best out of all of the grains. Also rich in calcium are the leafy green vegetables (such as rutabaga or kale), figs, soy and soy products, sesame seeds, broccoli, and different kinds of seaweed usually found in exotic salads or in sushi. Calcium makes up a large part of our bones and teeth and is essential for our development.

Answer: Furnace linings

Calcium carbide is a key ingredient in the making of acetylene gas, for use in welding torches. Calcium carbonate can be found in plaster of Paris, as well as other mortars and cements, as well as toothpaste. It is the key component of lime and limestone. Calcium arsenate and calcium phosphide are used in insecticides and rodenticides, respectively. Harmful if swallowed, these compounds of calcium will certainly not help your bones.

Furnace linings are made from a compound of magnesium, usually magnesium oxide.