BrainQuest Flashcards
saffron is a shade of
yellow
degrees of lat/long on each side of equator/prime meridian
lat - 90 each side of equator, long - 180 each side of prime meridian
southern most state in US
hawaii
child receives recessive gene from one or both parents?
both
Great Plains produces most in world of what crop
corn
Gobi desert is in
Mongolia / China
a small mountain with a wide flat top
mesa
isolated hill with steep cliffs and a small flat top
butte
two figures are congruent?
same size, same shape
6 trillion miles is called a
light year
leader of North Vietnam during Vietnam War
Ho Chi Minh
Guglielmo Marconi invented the
radio
Enrico Fermi invented the
nuclear reactor
united nations headquarters
new york city
nato, eu (de facto) headquarters
brussels, belgium
Island of the Blue Dolphins author
Scott O’Dell
Only country to still have an emperor
Japan
Mojave Desert is in
California / Arizona / Nevada
Mount Rainier is in
Washington (near Seattle)
Highest mountain in the US is
Mount McKinley (Alaska)
What revolution gave phrase “Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!”
French Revolution - now official motto for France
Etymology is the study of
words
Entomology is the study of
bugs
what is an interjection
expresses a strong emotion or feeling (e.g. OMG!)
Stonehenge is located in
England
top/bottom of Hindu caste system
Brahmin (priest) at top, Shudra (servants) at bottom
memo is short for
memorandum
first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
island of Corsica is in what country
France
Components of air?
80% Nitrogen, 20% Oxygen, .5% Carbon Dioxide (Exhaled air contains 14% Oxygen 4.4% Carbon Dioxide)
Author of The Legends of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving
Adirondack Mountains are in what state
New York
large feudal estates of the Middle Ages
Manors
author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Rick Riordon
What country awards Nobel prizes
Sweden
what is an onomatopoeia
Word that sounds like what it describes (klunk, bonk, pow)
Who was Captain Kidd?
Famous Scottish pirate in 1600s, executed by English parliament for piracy
What did the Maastricht Treaty establish and when?
European Union, 1993
Which continent has the highest average elevation?
Antartica (8,000 ft)
words at the top of the dictionary page
guide words
Warm Ocean Current from Florida to London
Gulf Stream
Which direction does the earth rotate (looking down from North pole)
To the East (Counter clockwise)
Why does weather in US move West to East
Air wants to move from tropical equator (hot - high pressure) to cold north pole (cold - low pressure). Earth spins east so wind gets caught up going east on it’s way up.
Why does Sun Rise in East and Set in West
Earth spins east. Imagine yourself on Earth looking East - you’ll see the Sun come up on that side and down on the other side
How fast does Earth rotate?
~ 1000 mph at equator, slower towards poles. We can’t tell because humans can’t sense absolute speed, only relative.
Why is it colder in winter and warmer in summer (Northern Hemisphere)
Because the earth is tilted 23 degrees. In the summer the North hemisphere gets most direct sun, winter gets the least.
Who wears jodhpurs?
equestrian (jodhpurs are comfortable pants for riding a horse)
What does a hygrometer measure?
humidity
Roman army was divided into regiments called
legions
Daylight Saving Time (US) starts/ends when?
2nd Sunday in March - 1st Sunday in November
poetry with no rhyme scheme or regular meter
free verse
What is an esquire?
synonym for lawyer or attorney
Black American poet, innovator of jazz poetry and leader of Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes
Majorca is an island in
Mediterranean (Spanish)
Who was the Good Neighbor policy in the 1940’s with?
FDR had a non-intervention policy with Latin America
Where are the White and Green Mountains?
White (New Hampshire & little in Maine), Green (Vermont)
Hispanic American union leader for the National Farm Workers Association
Cesar Chavez
English crime writer of novels and plays like The Mousetrap
Agatha Christie (only Shakespeare and the Bible have sold more copies)
“Trains hurtle people home.” Is “hurtle” transitive or intransitive verb?
transitive (it shows action AND has a direct object of the action (people))
What city is nicknamed “Gateway to the West”
St Louis
What are words ending in “ing” and are nouns called?
gerunds (e.g. the GPS is “recalculating” our route)
What are words ending in “ing” and are not nouns called?
present participles (e.g. a shark ate my “swimming” coach) - swimming describes the type of coach
Difference between Opthalmologist and Optometrist?
Opthalmologist is an eye doctor (usually does surgery and research). Optometrist is not a doctor, but went to 4 yr optometry school (usually does eye exams).
What is the point where an earthquake starts called?
epicenter
Put in order of invention: pottery, baskets, flint tools
flint tools (10,000 BCE), baskets (9,000 BCE), pottery (7,000 BCE)
How much is 1 gross of eggs?
12 dozen (144 eggs)
Where is Thebes?
Egyption capital during their heydey (2100 BC), along Nile, near present day Luxor
Dutch scholar during Renaissance, questioned church, precursor to Protestant Revolution
Erasmus
Where is the Painted Desert located?
Arizona, between Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest
Where is Fort Sumter?
South Carolina
Major crops grown in the US?
Corn (84 million acres), Soybeans (74), Hay (56), Wheat (46), Cotton (10)
What metal was discovered after copper and bronze?
iron (it started the Iron Age)
Copper + Tin = ?
Bronze
What was the Ashanti Empire in the 1600s?
Africa (present day Ghana)
What is Mexico divided into?
states
What is the process of green plants turning towards the light
phototropism
What is a device that converts mechanical engergy into electrical energy
generator
What is the explosion of a star?
supernova
What is a short, humorous or nonsense poem?
limerick
Does all lightning hit the ground?
No, lightning can strike inside or between clouds
Isis and Osiris are gods of?
Egypt. Isis (goddess of the moon) and Osiris (god of the underworld)
the earliest type of photograph
daguerreotype
what connects bones to bones?
ligaments
what connects bones to muscle?
tendons
what is the most common element in the universe?
hydrogen (74%) and helium (24%)
