Free Quiz Questions on technology. Topics include: inventions, transport, pioneers, inventors, breakthroughs, devices.

  1. What colour code of fire-extinguisher dispenses Carbon Dioxide and is recommended for putting out electrical fires: green, blue or black?

    black

  2. What word, beginning with the letter p is the scientific name for a lie-detector?

    polygraph

  3. Roughly how many people have died climbing Everest since Hillary conquered it in 1953?

    About 200

  4. What did humans discover first: electricity or gravity?

    Gravity

  5. What form of transport was invented by Englishman Christopher Cockerel in the 1950s?

    Hovercraft

  6. What of these was invented first: the manual Typewriter, the electric toaster or Doctor Marten Boots?

    Typewriter (1868)

  7. What was discovered first: DNA or the planet Pluto?

    DNA (*although only by one year

  8. What was invented first: teabags, the electric toaster or the nuclear bomb?

    Teabags

  9. What was invented first: The Atomic Bomb, The Electric guitar or Pepsi Cola?

    Pepsi cola (1898)

  10. What was invented first: the electric iron, the electric toaster or toothpaste?

    Toothpaste (by a mere 7000 years)

  11. What was invented first: the manual typewriter or the safety pin or electric toaster?

    Safety pin

  12. What was invented first: the telephone or the light bulb?

    Phone

  13. What was invented first: the word processor or the television?

    Television

  14. What was invented first: the zip fastener, the jet aircraft or the electric toaster?

    Zip

  15. What was the name of the South African doctor who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant?

    Christian Barnard

  16. What weather-measuring device did Evangalista Torricelli invent in 1643?

    Barometer

  17. When the Breitling balloon went round the world in 1999 – how many full days did it take?

    19 days

  18. Which ancient Greek ran through the streets naked crying 'Eureka'?

    Archimedes

  19. Which continental European country introduced the worlds first diesel loco in 1912?

    Germany

  20. Which English physician from Kent was the first to correctly work out how blood circulated round the human body?

    William Harvey

  21. Which Greek physician is known as the 'Father of Medicine'?

    Hippocrates

  22. Which of these things was invented first: ballpoint pens, bicycles or barbed wire?

    Bicycles

  23. Who discovered radium?

    The Curies

  24. Who piloted the first flight across the English channel?

    Louis Bleriot

  25. What colour wire is live in a normal UK electrical plug?

    Brown or Red

  26. According to jewelry experts, what material should be used to string real pearls on a pearl necklace: cotton thread, silk thread or horse hair?

    Silk thread

  27. Approximately how many sheets are there in a ream of paper: one hundred, five hundred, or a thousand?

    Five hundred

  28. Back in 1902, what was the world land speed record for a car?

    74mph

  29. Dolly the cloned sheep had a lamb in 1998. Did the lamb have bald patches on the rear legs, did it have a problem with its eyes or was the lamb perfectly normal?

    It was reported as being 'perfectly normal'

  30. How can you revive worn-out batteries: leave them under a hot water bottle overnight, leave them in the fridge overnight or leave them in a container of horses' urine overnight?

    hot water bottle

  31. How far does the QEII travel on one gallon of diesel? 50 feet, 50 yards or 50 furlongs?

    50 feet

  32. How fast (top speed in mph) was George Stephenson’s famous locomotive "The Rocket”, which he made in 1829? [get within 10 mph to earn the points]?

    36 mph [accept answers between 26 - 46mph]

  33. How long did it take Concorde to cover a mile?

    3 seconds

  34. How long is the fuse on most grenades: round about 5 seconds or round about 10 seconds?

    5 seconds

  35. In 1928 The Flying Scotsman steam train had a race from London to Edinburgh with an aeroplane. Who won?

    Train

  36. In 1961 who circled the world in 1hr 29mins

    Yuri Gagarin

  37. Is the Kalashnikov machine gun named after a person, named after a place or is it the Russian word for “fast death”?

    Named after person (the gun's inventor - Mikhail Kalashnikov)

  38. Is there any bone in bone China?

    Yes

  39. Linus Torwalds invented what thing that computer geeks love?

    Linux computer operating system

  40. Rene Laennac invented which aid for doctors in 1810?

    Stethoscope

  41. Steam train world record speed?

    126 mph

  42. The Drunkometer was the original name for which measuring divice?

    the breathalyser

  43. The world’s first hot air balloon went up in 1783? What was it made out of? Silk, nylon or paper?

    Paper

  44. What did mathematician John Napier invent in 1614?

    Logarithms

  45. What do the letters in the acronym LED stand for?

    Light-emitting diode

  46. What is the maximum passenger capacity of the new double-decker Airbus A380 aeroplane?

    853 passengers

  47. What is the more common name for Ethylene Glycol? Clue: you'd keep some in the car.

    Antifreeze

  48. What kind of fuel mostly powers a "gas" cigarette lighter

    Butane

  49. What substance can be found in most lipsticks: cow liver, fish scales or octopus testicles?

    Fish scales

  50. What type of acid is used in car batteries

    Sulphuric

  51. What type of camera was invented by Dr Edward Land in 1947?

    Polaroid

  52. What was the average speed of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage across the Atlantic?

    2.8 mph

  53. What was the name of the World’s largest liner [until May 06]: The Queen Mary2, The Majestic or the Tuxedo Princess

    Queen Mary 2

  54. What was the world’s first high level computer programming language 1957?

    IBM FORTRAN

  55. What way do you turn most jar lids to open them? Clockwise or anti-clockwise?

    Anti clockwise

  56. What’s is the longer measurement on a Boeing 747: the wingspan or the length of the fuselage?

    Length

  57. Which household appliance uses the most electricity: dishwasher or TV

    Dishwasher

  58. Which household appliance uses the most electricity: hair dryer or an iron?

    Hairdryer

  59. Which household appliance uses the most electricity: hair dryer or dishwasher?

    Hair dryer

  60. Which household appliance uses the most electricity: iron or oven?

    Oven

  61. Which household appliance uses the most electricity: microwave or a vacuum cleaner?

    Microwave

  62. Which household appliance uses the most electricity: TV or 100W lightbulb?

    TV

  63. Which is the most common airplane in the world's skies: Boing 737, Boeing 747 or Boeing 757?

    737

  64. Which machine creates the loudest noise: motorcycle, chainsaw or shotgun?

    Shotgun

  65. Which Scotsman is credited with inventing television?

    John Logie Baird

  66. Who designed the first Iron ship, the 'Great Britain' in 1845?

    Isimbard Kingdom Brunel

  67. Who has the most developed space program: China or Japan? (2004)

    China

  68. Who invented the pneumatic tyre, which was first used on bicycles?

    John Dunlop

  69. Who invented toothpaste: Ancient Egyptians, Brits in the Middle Ages or Americans in the 20th century?

    Ancient Egyptians

  70. Who was the inventor of the steam engine: Benjamin Franklin, James Watt, Thomas Edison, Ainsley Harriot?

    James Watt

  71. Who were the first in the world to use toilet paper: the Chinese, the Americans or the British?

    Chinese

  72. Within twenty miles per hour, how fast is the world’s fastest rollercoaster?

    128 mph (the Kingda Ka rollercoaster in New Jersey, USA) [accept answers 108-148 mph]

  73. in 1656 Christian Huygens invented what type of timekeeper?

    Pendulum clock

  74. In 1899 the Eastman company in the USA produced first what?

    Kodak 1 - hand held

  75. In 1901 which brand of car was seen for the first time?

    Mercedes

  76. in 1951 which (of two) car companies introduced power steering?

    Buick - Chrysler

  77. The invention of what in 1867, made Alfred Nobel famous?

    Dynamite

  78. What did Jacques Perier of Paris Invent in 1775: the Guillotine, the world's first steamboat or the world’s first coffee machine

    world's first steamboat