Amazing Materials Quiz – Printable Version
20 multiple-choice questions with an explained answer key, ready to print.
Print the sheet (or save it as a PDF from the print window), hand it out, then mark it together using the answer page: every answer is explained. Perfect for a party, a birthday, a classroom, a care home or a team activity.
Name: ………………………………Score: ……… / 20
- Why is silica aerogel nicknamed 'frozen smoke'?
- A. It forms in chimneys
- B. It melts in the warmth of a hand
- C. It gives off steam constantly
- D. Made of more than 99% air, it is translucent, bluish and almost weightless
- How did Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov first isolate graphene in 2004?
- A. With a giant laser
- B. By burning diamonds
- C. By peeling layers off graphite with sticky tape
- D. By compressing soot
- Why do steel and concrete make such an effective pair in reinforced concrete?
- A. Steel makes concrete waterproof
- B. They expand almost equally with heat, and the concrete protects the steel from rust
- C. Concrete makes steel lighter
- D. They weld chemically as they dry
- In which situations is self-compacting concrete particularly useful on a building site?
- A. Only for building underwater
- B. For painting façades
- C. For making bricks
- D. In heavily reinforced or hard-to-reach formwork, where concrete can't be vibrated properly
- What surprising property can aluminium foam have?
- A. It is transparent
- B. It turns liquid when touched
- C. It can float on water despite being metal
- D. It attracts all metals like a magnet
- From which chemical element, very abundant in sand, are silicones derived?
- A. Carbon
- B. Iron
- C. Sulphur
- D. Silicon
- Who typically wears clothing made of Nomex, a flame-resistant aramid fibre?
- A. Ballet dancers
- B. Sushi chefs
- C. Scuba divers
- D. Racing drivers and firefighters
- Where are nickel-based Inconel superalloys typically used?
- A. In jet engine turbines and exhausts exposed to extreme temperatures
- B. In costume jewellery
- C. In soda cans
- D. In guitar strings
- What are the advantage and drawback of a ceramic kitchen knife?
- A. It only cuts bread
- B. It rusts very quickly
- C. It stays sharp for a very long time, but can break if dropped or twisted
- D. It is heavier than a steel knife
- What principle does a sandwich panel, like those in an aircraft floor or a surfboard, use?
- A. Several welded layers of metal
- B. A block of foam with no skin
- C. Fibres braided like a rope
- D. Two thin, stiff skins separated by a light core, like an I-beam
- What practical use have mycelium composites already found?
- A. Compostable packaging that replaces polystyrene
- B. Car tyres
- C. Window glass
- D. Electric cables
- Where does the French word for rubber, 'caoutchouc', come from?
- A. From the name of a Russian chemist
- B. From a Brazilian town
- C. From the sound of a bouncing ball
- D. From an Amazonian Native American word evoking 'weeping wood'
- Why are tyres black when natural rubber is rather off-white?
- A. They're painted to hide dirt
- B. Carbon black is added, which reinforces the rubber and protects it from UV
- C. Vulcanisation turns them black with sulphur
- D. Road tarmac stains them
- Why does zinc keep protecting galvanised steel even when it is scratched?
- A. Zinc repels water like a magnet
- B. The scratch heals by itself
- C. Zinc corrodes instead of the iron: it is 'sacrificial' protection
- D. Zinc turns rust back into steel
- Which airliner replaced window blinds with electrochromic windows that dim at the press of a button?
- A. Concorde
- B. The Airbus A320
- C. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner
- D. The 1970 Boeing 747
- Which 1970s fad item claimed to reveal its wearer's 'mood' using a thermochromic material?
- A. The Rubik's Cube
- B. The mood ring, whose stone changes colour
- C. The Walkman
- D. The quartz watch
- What is the main weakness of superhydrophobic coatings applied to everyday objects?
- A. Their fragile microstructure wears away with rubbing, and the effect disappears
- B. They become toxic in sunlight
- C. They attract lightning
- D. They make surfaces sticky
- How do some plasterboards and cooling vests use phase-change materials?
- A. They produce cold using a battery
- B. A wax melts while absorbing heat, then later solidifies again, releasing it
- C. They contain dry ice
- D. They reflect heat like a mirror
- What spectacular demonstration could be done with a heat-shield tile from the US Space Shuttle?
- A. Making it float in the air
- B. Holding it by the edges with bare hands seconds after taking it out of an oven above 1,000 °C
- C. Folding it like a sheet of paper
- D. Making it glow in the dark
- Why does spider silk fascinate materials engineers?
- A. It conducts electricity better than copper
- B. It never burns
- C. Weight for weight, it rivals steel in strength while being very elastic
- D. It glows in the dark
Answer key — Amazing Materials Quiz
- D. Made of more than 99% air, it is translucent, bluish and almost weightlessIt is one of the lightest and most insulating solids there is: a thin slab is enough to protect a flower from a blowtorch flame.
- C. By peeling layers off graphite with sticky tapeBy sticking and peeling the tape again and again, they eventually got sheets just one atom thick.
- B. They expand almost equally with heat, and the concrete protects the steel from rustConcrete resists compression very well but tension poorly; steel is the opposite.
- D. In heavily reinforced or hard-to-reach formwork, where concrete can't be vibrated properlyThanks to admixtures, this very fluid concrete spreads by itself into every corner, without trapping air bubbles or separating.
- C. It can float on water despite being metalFull of gas bubbles, it is very light while remaining stiff.
- D. SiliconSilicone and silicon are often confused. Silicon is the basic element of microchips and solar panels; silicones are flexible polymers combining silicon and oxygen.
- D. Racing drivers and firefightersNomex doesn't melt and chars instead of catching fire, protecting the skin for precious seconds.
- A. In jet engine turbines and exhausts exposed to extreme temperaturesThese alloys keep their strength and resist oxidation above 1,000 °C, where ordinary steel would weaken.
- C. It stays sharp for a very long time, but can break if dropped or twistedThe zirconia used is much harder than steel: the edge dulls very slowly and the blade doesn't oxidise.
- D. Two thin, stiff skins separated by a light core, like an I-beamBy moving the two skins apart, stiffness increases enormously with almost no extra weight, the core merely holding them apart.
- A. Compostable packaging that replaces polystyreneA fungus's network of threads is grown in a mould filled with farm waste such as straw or husks.
- D. From an Amazonian Native American word evoking 'weeping wood'South American peoples had for centuries collected the white latex that flows from a cut rubber tree to make balls and waterproof objects.
- B. Carbon black is added, which reinforces the rubber and protects it from UVThe first tyres were pale, often whitish. In the early 20th century, adding carbon black, a fine soot powder, greatly improved their wear resistance.
- C. Zinc corrodes instead of the iron: it is 'sacrificial' protectionZinc being more 'reactive' than iron, it corrodes first when both are in contact with water.
- C. The Boeing 787 DreamlinerA small electric voltage moves ions into a special layer, which gradually darkens until it blocks almost all the light while still letting the view show through.
- B. The mood ring, whose stone changes colourThe 'stone' contained liquid crystals that change colour with finger temperature.
- A. Their fragile microstructure wears away with rubbing, and the effect disappearsThe effect relies on microscopic bumps that trap air beneath the drops.
- B. A wax melts while absorbing heat, then later solidifies again, releasing itWhen melting, a material absorbs a lot of heat without its temperature rising, like a melting ice cube.
- B. Holding it by the edges with bare hands seconds after taking it out of an oven above 1,000 °CMade largely of silica fibres and air, these tiles conducted heat so poorly that their edges cooled almost instantly while the core still glowed.
- C. Weight for weight, it rivals steel in strength while being very elasticSome threads absorb huge amounts of energy before breaking, a rare combination of strength and stretch.