Curiosity Corner
By
Dr. Jerry D. Wilson,
Emeritus Professor of Physics
Lander University
Another quiz for you!
Here are a few short-answer questions I’ve put in the form of a quiz—a little something for everyone! You can grade yourself with the answer key below.
1. How many different languages are spoken by a million or more people?
2. What is the tallest grass?
3. What is the oldest living creature on Earth?
4. What are three most frequently used letters of the alphabet and the three least frequently used?
5. What distinguishes an atom of one element from that of another element?
6. Which is longer, a kilometer or a mile?
7. What is a minuend and a subtrahend?
8. This is a big one! Distinguish between the following types of triangles: (a) equilateral, (b) isosceles, (c) scalene, (d) right, (e) oblique, (f) acute, and (g) obtuse.
Answers:
1. 140 (a real Babel).
2. Bamboo, up to 120 feet tall.
3. Galapagos Island turtle, up to 200 years.
4. ETA and OXZ (remember when playing Wheel of Fortune)
5. The number of protons in the nucleus. For example, a hydrogen atom has one proton and a carbon atom has six protons.
6. A mile, by more than one and a half times. One mile is equal to 1.6 kilometers.
7. In subtraction, the subtrahend is subtracted from the minuend, and the result is the difference, or the remainder.
8. Okay, math buffs, how did you do? (a) all three sides are of equal length, (b) two sides are of equal length, (c) all three sides have different lengths, (d) one angle is a right angle (90 degrees), (e) contains no right angle, (f) all three angles are less than 90 degrees, and (g) one of the three angles is greater than 90 degrees.
C.P.S. (Curious Postscript): Does steel wool come from a metal sheep? -Anonymous
Curious about something? Send your questions to Dr. Jerry D. Wilson, College of Science and Mathematics, Lander University, Greenwood, SC 29649, or email jerry@curiosity-corner.net. Selected questions will appear in the Curiosity Corner. For Curiosity Corner background, go to www.curiosity-corner.net.
