Shared quiz
Everyday Physics: Why Things Do That
Ten questions about the physics you meet without noticing — kettles, rainbows, seatbelts and why the sky is the colour it is. No maths.
- Questions
- 10
- Time to play
- about 6 min
- Category
- Science
- Language
- English
- physics
- science
- everyday
- classroom
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The questions
Correct answers are shown below, so you can check the quiz before you use it.
Why is the sky blue?
- Shorter blue wavelengths scatter off air molecules more than red onescorrect
- The oceans reflect their colour onto the atmosphere
- Ozone in the upper atmosphere is naturally blue
- Sunlight is blue before it reaches us and turns yellow on the way
Why
Sunlight contains every colour. Air molecules scatter short wavelengths far more strongly than long ones (Rayleigh scattering), so blue light is bounced around the whole sky and reaches your eyes from every direction.
20 seconds to answer
In a vacuum, a feather and a hammer dropped together hit the ground at the same moment.
- Truecorrect
- False
Why
Without air there is no drag, and gravity accelerates every object at the same rate whatever its mass. Astronaut David Scott showed it on the Moon in 1971 with a hammer and a falcon feather.
15 seconds to answer
What do we call the transfer of heat through direct contact between materials?
Accepted answers
conduction · thermal conduction
Why
Conduction is heat passing from particle to particle through direct contact, like a spoon warming in hot soup. It differs from convection (moving fluid) and radiation (light and infrared).
30 seconds to answer
Put these in order, fastest first.
Correct order
- Light in a vacuum
- Sound in air
- A commercial airliner
- A cheetah at full sprint
Why
Light travels about 300,000 km per second. Sound in air manages about 343 metres per second, an airliner cruises at roughly 250 m/s (about 900 km/h), and a cheetah tops out around 30 m/s.
45 seconds to answer
A metal railing and a wooden bench have been outside all night. Why does the metal feel colder?
- Metal conducts heat away from your hand much fastercorrect
- Metal really is colder than the wood beside it
- Wood releases stored heat into your hand
- Metal reflects your body heat back away from you
Why
Both are at the same temperature after a night outside. Metal carries heat away from your skin much faster than wood does, and your hand feels that loss of heat as cold.
20 seconds to answer
Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
- True
- Falsecorrect
Why
Lightning often strikes the same place, especially tall, pointed objects. The Empire State Building is hit around twenty times in a typical year.
15 seconds to answer
Which of these still feels slightly unbelievable to you?
Poll — no right answer, players just vote.
- That we're standing on a giant magnet
- That the equator is moving at about 1,670 km/h
- That sunlight takes eight minutes to reach us
- That most of an atom is empty space
20 seconds to answer
What separates a rainbow into colours?
- Different wavelengths bend by different amounts entering and leaving a raindropcorrect
- Sunlight carries coloured particles that sort themselves by weight
- Clouds act as a filter, letting one colour through at a time
- The colours reflect off dust suspended in the air
Why
Sunlight slows and bends as it enters a raindrop. Some light reflects inside the drop, then speeds up and bends again as it leaves. Different wavelengths bend by different amounts; this dispersion separates the light into colours.
20 seconds to answer
What is the word for a material that carries electric current with no resistance at all once it is cold enough?
Accepted answers
superconductor · superconductivity · superconducting
Why
Some materials lose all electrical resistance below a critical temperature, so a current can flow in a loop with no loss. The effect was discovered in mercury in 1911 and is used in MRI scanners.
30 seconds to answer
A seatbelt lets you lean forward slowly but locks the instant you brake hard. What does the locking?
- A weighted lever inside swings under sudden deceleration and jams the spoolcorrect
- The webbing stiffens as it is pulled faster
- A sensor cuts power to an electric reel
- Air pressure builds inside the reel housing
Why
Seatbelt reels contain an inertia sensor, such as a small weighted pendulum or ball. Gentle pulls leave it still; a sudden stop swings it forward, and it catches a toothed wheel that stops the belt unwinding.
20 seconds to answer