DIRECTIONS: What follows here is a collection of physics trivia questions. The task for your group is to answer as many as possible using sources found on the Internet. Answer the question and include the URL of the site where the answer was found.
1. A physics professor at M.I.T. spent a career in the 20th
century developing stroboscopic photography. What was his name?
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2. 16. At what rate (in watts) is energy produced by the
sun?
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3. Isaac Newton published what might be considered the first
physics text in 1686. What was the complete Latin title of this
publication?
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4. Physics, and the rest of science for that matter, depends
on measurements of physical quantities. Name the international
agency that governs this matter.
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5. Name the satellite that was the first to be placed in
geosynchronous orbit about the earth?
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6. Name the Greek mathematician who used the distance between
two wells to measure the radius of the Earth.
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7. Copernicus rekindled the controversy regarding cosmology
with a book published in 1543. Give the complete Latin title for
this book.
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8. Halley’s comet reappears to astronomers every 75
years. In 1066 the comet was shown on a famous art work depicting
the surrender of King Harold of England to William the Conqueror.
Name this work of art.
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9. How much does the finished mirror on the Mt. Palomar
telescope weigh?
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10. In 1609, Galileo shared with the world his discovery
of satellites around Jupiter. Name the book in which he published
his findings.
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11. In what town was Isaac Newton born?
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12. Name the British scientist who was the first to measure
the gravitational attraction between two masses.
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13. Who discovered the planet Uranus?
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14. What is the period of Ganymede, a satellite of Jupiter?
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15. How did Antoine Lavoissier die?
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16. Who invented the first commercially successful steam
engine at least fifty years before James Watt’s improved
version?
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17. What scientist is responsible for developing the idea
of normal distribution of data in statistical analysis?
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18. Who invented the mercury barometer?
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19. Where was Count Rumford born?
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20. Who is responsible for the concept of entropy?
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21. Who was the first person to measure the speed of light
terrestrsially (rather than using astronomical techniques).
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22. The chief physician to Queen Elizabeth I was also a
famous scientist who did fundamental work with magnets. What was
his name?
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23. Name the person who first determined the magnitude of
the charge on the electron?
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24. Who was the first person executed by electrocution using
high voltage AC current?
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25, Who was first to produce electromagnetic (radio) waves
in a laboratory?
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26. The world’s largest radio telescope is located
in Puerto Rico. What is its name?
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27. Among the naturally occurring elements, which is the
densest?
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28. What was Albert Einstein’s street address in Princeton
NJ?
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29. What was the name of Einstein’s first wife?
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30. Who won the first Nobel prize in physics?
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31, In what country was Ernest Rutherford born?
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32. Who was the first American to win a Nobel prize in physics?
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33. A unit of radioactivity is called the Curie. In this
context, what is a Curie?
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34. Among the first 92 elements, two do not occur in nature.
Name them.
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35. What name has been proposed for element #107?
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36. Who discovered Xenon?
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37. Named the Serb electrical engineer credited by the US
Supreme court with the invention of the radio.
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38. Who discovered the neutron?
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39. Enrico Fermi supervised the first nuclear chain reaction.
Where did this event take place?
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40. The first piece of antimatter to be discovered was the
positron. Who is responsible for this discovery?
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41 What scientist headed the scientific half of the Manhattan
Project?
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42. Where was the first hydrogen bomb detonated?
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43. Three astronauts died in an early Apollo Project accident.
What were their names?
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44. Which of the quarks was the last to be found?
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45. How was the meter originally defined as a unit of length?
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46. Who was the first man to orbit the Earth?
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47. Who is the chair of the physics department at Bates
College?
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48. On what calendar day is the Earth closest to the sun?
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49. What are the longitude and latitude for Waterville Me.
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50. Who was the Pope when Galileo was tried for heresy?
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Last edited 12/30/05